By Rabindra Nath Sinha
KOLKATA: The resignation of Assam’s Barak Valley’s Silchar-based politician Sushmita Dev from the Trinamool Congress and Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, June 10 throws light on the kind of politics Sushmita has been practicing over the last five years as also her organisational capabilities. However, in the immediate context, by resigning from TMC and the Upper House, she has managed to come out of a situation in which she was required to have two feet in two different boats.
As member from TMC she represented West Bengal in the Upper House, but her roots being in Assam, she had to bear in mind Assam’s interest too. However, in the House West Bengal had to be her priority. So by resigning from the party and Rajya Sabha, she managed to come out of the embarrassing situation. It is pertinent to ask why did she not visualise this dilemma before accepting TMC’s nomination. She has represented West Bengal in the Upper House in two instalments – for about two years between 2021 and 2023 [in place of Manas Bhuyan who was made a minister by Mamata Banerjee] and second time in 2024. This term was to expire in 2030. So Dev had four more years left in her last tenure.
She staged her resignation drama on June 10 by when Mamata’s nearly 28 year-old TMC was in turmoil, which surfaced soon after the Assembly election results confirmed on June 4 TMC’s dethroning from power by the Bharatiya Janata Party which with a comfortable majority of over 207 seats in the 294 member-Assembly was set to form its maiden ministry in the state. About 60 MLAs out of 87 members who had won on TMC ticket revolted against the party supremo and her nephew and TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. A visible split also occurred in TMC’s parliamentary wing which had 28 Lok Sabha members and 13 in Rajya Sabha. With each passing day, the revolt within the TMC intensified and Mamata and Abhishek’s authority stood totally eroded.
Apparently, the chaos and turmoil in the headquarters prompted Sushmita to dissociate herself from TMC. It bears mention that the Upper House membership did mean for her political rehabilitation after her defeat from Silchar in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a Congress nominee but she could do little to create a base for TMC in Assam during her five-year association with the party.
Clearly, she lacked organizational abilities. Mamata and Abhishek depended too much on party hoppers, particularly defectors from the Congress and barring short spells of undivided attention by some office-bearers, the party failed to strike roots in this north-eastern state. The top TMC brass led by Mamata too failed to provide support to the local leadership in launching membership campaigns. Over these years, TMC has had three MLAs – one each in 2001, 2011 and 2026. According to Assam watchers, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that the candidates won more on their own political identity and clout than on TMC’s credentials.
Sushmita’s role in the 2026 Assam Assembly elections is revealing. At meetings, she said about 80 persons had shown interest in being TMC candidates, but leadership had decided to restrict the selection process to 51 of them and eventually field 22 candidates ; ensuring a strategic spread. She dutifully followed to the letter Mamata’s anti-BJP stand vehemently criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah for their habitually spending government funds during election time to launch and inaugurate projects and utilise the occasions purely for party work. She also listed the demands her party would highlight and prevail upon the Union government to fulfil those demands, particularly the ones for welfare of tea tribals and extremely backward classes.
After quitting the party and Rajya Sabha on June 10, a dramatic volte face was performed by her, daughter of Barak Valley’s veteran Congress leader Santosh Mohan Dev who represented Silchar in LokSabha several times. Within hours, she met Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at his New Delhi residence for, as she put it, “seeking guidance”. Visuals of the meeting gave rise to speculation that she was on the look out for accommodation in BJP and who better than Himanta, BJP’s politically strong and resourceful man in Assam, to “guide” her.
There are pointers that her desire may not be fulfilled in the near future. Much will also depend on how BJP will like to make use of her political identity. She may be asked to work at the state level for the party, a task she was not required to undertake before. Be that as it may, the fact is that she is not opting to return to the Congress where she headed all-India Mahila Congress, apart from being a Lok Sabha member. Also, Himanta certainly would not advise her to go back to the Congress.
Her meeting with him for guidance simply means she was seeking his help to join BJP. Cachar district TMC president Rajesh Dev has gone record saying Sushmita was seeking political rehabilitation in BJP. Rajesh has also said given the turmoil that has created a big question mark over TMC’s existence, workers in Assam will quit the party en masse before long and the state outfit may become a part of history.
The behaviour of Santosh Mohan Dev’s daughter has evoked strong reaction from the state’s unit senior functionary Dulu Ahmed, who was senior vice-president. In the absence of a president, Dulu has been running the party affairs. On being asked what next, Dulu said: “Sushmita’s behaviour is deplorable, to say the least. She hardly worked to grow the party during these five years. Because I am a muslim, they did not make me the state unit’s president. I found the situation disgusting. Asked if he was thinking of quitting the party, Dulu quipped: ”party! On June 10 itself, I announced that I am giving up my political career; I can’t be in politics in these demoralising circumstances”. (IPA Service)
