By T N Ashok
The Trinamool Congress (TMC), once considered the most formidable regional political machine in India, is facing the gravest crisis in its 28-year history. What began as murmurs of dissatisfaction after the party’s stunning defeat in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections has rapidly evolved into a full-scale internal rebellion stretching from the West Bengal Assembly to the corridors of Parliament in New Delhi.
The revolt has exposed deep fault lines within the party, reignited questions about succession, and opened the door for the BJP to consolidate its historic victory in Bengal. At the centre of the storm are two parallel rebellions—one led by expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee in Kolkata and another led by veteran MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar in Delhi. Together, they threaten to dismantle the political edifice painstakingly built by Mamata Banerjee over nearly three decades.
The crisis cannot be understood without appreciating the magnitude of TMC’s defeat in the 2026 Assembly elections. TMC has gone from the invincible to the vulnerable.
For the first time since Mamata Banerjee ended the Left Front’s 34-year rule in 2011, the BJP succeeded in capturing power in West Bengal under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. The defeat shocked political observers because the TMC had long appeared unbeatable despite anti-incumbency, corruption allegations and sustained BJP expansion.
The election result did more than remove the party from power. It shattered the aura of invincibility surrounding Mamata Banerjee and exposed latent tensions that had remained hidden as long as the party controlled the state machinery.
Within days, legislators who had quietly grumbled about the concentration of power around Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata’s nephew and political heir apparent, sensed an opportunity to challenge the existing order.
The first explosion came in Kolkata. Then came the assembly revolt. Ritabrata Banerjee, already facing disciplinary action from the party leadership, emerged as the unlikely rallying point for disgruntled legislators. In a dramatic development, 58 of TMC’s 80 MLAs signed a letter backing him as Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly.
The Assembly Speaker subsequently recognised the rebel camp, effectively transferring control of the opposition benches away from Mamata Banerjee’s loyalists. The symbolism was devastating.
Although the rebel legislators carefully declared their continued respect for Mamata Banerjee as the party’s supreme leader, they openly rejected the authority of Abhishek Banerjee. Their message was unmistakable: the revolt was less against Mamata than against the succession plan that would eventually place the party in her nephew’s hands.
By securing recognition from the Speaker, the rebels transformed what could have been dismissed as factional dissent into a constitutional and legislative reality. The TMC leadership responded by expelling Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha for alleged anti-party activities. But by then, the damage had already been done.
If the Assembly revolt rattled TMC headquarters, events in Parliament threatened to create a national political earthquake. The rebellion had by now reached India’s capital city.
The rebellion acquired a new face in Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, once a trusted Mamata lieutenant and former Chief Whip of the party in the Lok Sabha. Kakoli claimed that 20 TMC MPs had formally communicated their desire to support the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The number was not chosen casually.
Under the anti-defection provisions of the Constitution, a group representing two-thirds of a legislature party can seek protection from disqualification. With TMC possessing 28 MPs in the Lok Sabha, support from 19 members would cross that threshold. By claiming the support of 20 MPs, the rebels were effectively signalling that they possessed the legal numbers required to engineer a split without immediate disqualification.
The claim sent shockwaves through opposition circles. The timing was equally dramatic. While Mamata Banerjee attended an INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi to project opposition unity, dissident MPs reportedly gathered separately and held discussions involving senior BJP leaders and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav. Photographs and reports of these meetings immediately intensified speculation that the BJP was actively facilitating the rebellion.
The loyalist counterattack came swiftly. The clarion call was Resign First and then think about joining the BJP. Senior TMC leaders Kalyan Banerjee and Kirti Azad launched a blistering public campaign against the rebels, accusing them of political betrayal and moral hypocrisy.
Their argument was simple but politically potent. If the dissidents genuinely believed in their new political direction, they should resign the seats won under the TMC banner and seek a fresh mandate under the BJP symbol. Resign first and then join BJP” quickly became the rallying cry of the loyalist camp.
Kalyan Banerjee repeatedly questioned how MPs could continue to enjoy positions earned through the Trinamool Congress while simultaneously negotiating with its principal political adversary. Kirti Azad took the attack further by demanding transparency regarding the alleged letter sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. If 20 MPs had indeed signed a document supporting a separate parliamentary group, he argued, why not make the signatures public? The loyalists insisted that the rebels were manufacturing numbers while operating under BJP protection.
For the TMC leadership, the rebellion is not merely an internal dispute. It is part of a larger political operation allegedly directed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Post elections, the Amit Shah factor is operating to completely decimate the party in Bengal and the centre , they alleged.
Party leaders openly accuse Shah of employing the same strategy that the BJP has used elsewhere: weaken opposition parties through carefully engineered defections rather than electoral combat alone. The TMC points to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and other states where opposition parties experienced significant splits under BJP pressure.
According to loyalists, central agencies such as the ED, CBI and Income Tax Department have created an atmosphere in which vulnerable politicians are encouraged to switch allegiance. Congress leaders within the INDIA alliance have largely echoed this argument, suggesting that coercion and political pressure—not ideological conviction—lie behind many of the defections.
The BJP, however, rejects these allegations. Its leaders argue that the revolt reflects widespread dissatisfaction within TMC and the failure of Abhishek Banerjee’s leadership project after the electoral defeat.
Beneath the daily drama lies a deeper struggle. It’s the succession question. After Mamata Didi, who? The battle is fundamentally about the future of the Trinamool Congress after Mamata Banerjee. For years, Abhishek Banerjee’s rise within the organisation generated unease among older party leaders who believed the TMC was evolving from a mass movement into a family-centred political structure.
As long as Mamata kept winning elections, these concerns remained muted. Defeat changed everything. The electoral collapse created an opening for critics to challenge not only specific decisions but also the broader direction of the party. The rebels have therefore adopted a carefully calibrated position: respect Mamata, reject Abhishek.
This distinction is politically important because Mamata remains enormously popular among large sections of the TMC cadre. An outright attack on her leadership would alienate grassroots workers. Criticism of Abhishek, however, allows dissidents to present themselves as reformers rather than rebels. The future of the rebellion depends on numbers. So, what happens next?
If Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar can demonstrate support from at least two-thirds of the parliamentary party, the split could acquire legal legitimacy under anti-defection provisions. If the numbers fall short, dissident MPs risk disqualification and political isolation.
In Bengal, meanwhile, Ritabrata Banerjee’s faction has already altered the balance of power within the opposition ranks. The BJP government under Suvendu Adhikari is the immediate beneficiary of the chaos. A divided opposition gives the ruling party greater room to consolidate power and potentially absorb influential TMC leaders.
For Mamata Banerjee, the challenge is existential. Throughout her political career she defeated the Congress, destroyed the Left Front’s dominance and repeatedly held back the BJP’s advances. Today, however, she faces an adversary more dangerous than any external rival: a rebellion from within.
The coming weeks will determine whether the Trinamool Congress survives as a united political force or follows the path of numerous regional parties that fractured after the departure—or weakening—of a dominant leader.
For now, the slogans of “Maa, Maati, Maanush” are competing with accusations of betrayal, secret meetings, and political intrigue. What was once India’s most disciplined regional party now finds itself fighting a battle for its very soul. (IPA Service)
