By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: It is political theatre of absurd in Bengal as the former Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo is witnessing the desertions of TMC leaders close to her and reports coming in from the districts of the state of the closure of the party offices or takeover of those by resurgent BJP supporters.
On Friday, Mamata got the news of the freezing of the TMC’s three bank accounts at HDFC due to the legal problems arising out of the present challenge by the majority of the legislators and the parliament members to her leadership and the original TMC. Her closest aide Arup Biswas defected. Similarly, two confidants former minister Jyotriya Mullick and former Mayor of Siliguri Municipality Goutam Deb resigned from the party. It was only bad news all along as the first assembly session of the newly elected Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari is in session.
Former state sports minister Arup Biswas has sent a letter to the HDFC bank asking the authorities to freeze the TMC accounts. He sent the letter as the treasurer of the TMC though after the elections results were out, Mamata reshuffled the TMC committee and replaced Biswas with another loyalist Biswas is under investigation. His sudden letter to the Bank authorities is seen as a signal to the BJP to change side and get the shelter of the ruling establishment.
Finance continues to be the sinews of war even it happens to battles of the ballot. What Biswas, a Mamata Banerjee acolyte till the other day sought have been supported in a letter from new Leader of the Opposition, Ritabrata Banerjee leading to the freezing of the TMC accounts.
It seems post bank account freeze the TMC coffers are reported to have Rs 440 crores. The legal battle on the custody of the bank accounts will be prolonged.. Till then, it will be a difficult time for Mamata and her loyalists now known as TMC (Kalighat) in doing organizational work. Since Mamata is not the CM now, no industry man will come to give funds to her. The state BJP including the CM are closely monitoring the situation and any person with deep funds, is sure to be under threat by the new government.
What has emerged is that Mamata Banerjee no longer has the last word in Trinamool Congress. Her authority slumped after more than 60 MLAs of the Trinamool Legislature Party broke away from it on the issue of allegedly fake signatures on a letter to Assembly Speaker, Rathindra Bose seeking Sovandeb Chattopadhyay be made the Leader of the Opposition (LoP).
Growing numerically, the dissidents initially numbering 59 out of 80 have turned tables and their leader Ritabrata Banerjee is the LoP now. Even the Calcutta High Court did not interfere in the decision of the Assembly Speaker to make Banerjee the LoP.
There are lighter moments in this political imbroglio when state finance minister, Swapan Dasgupta asked dissident bloc leader Ritabrata Banerjee the name of the political outfit he represents. “What’s in a name” pat came the reply.
A delegation of Mamata loyalists including Chattopadhyay and Madan Mitra met chief minister, Subhendu Adhikari. The chief minister assured them of allotting a room in the Assembly.
It should have been a small compensation for the TMC veterans. But it pleased them no end and did away with the notion of being homeless public representatives. The loyalists in the TMC are now a humble lot. It would be no exaggeration to say how the mighty have fallen. Intra-party squabbles are breaking out. These would not have arisen when Mamata Banerjee was at the peak of her political power.
Neither TMC national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee nor Srirampur TMC MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay who looks after the party’s legal affairs are on the best of terms. Kalyan is among the eight Lok Sabha MPs who have not joined the opposition group led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. He had a big clash with Abhishek and Kalyan publicly said that Mamata had to choose one of the two. The chasm has been finally sorted out but it showed that even in the small left over group, the problems remain.
Squabbles continue to a part of TMC after journalist-politician Kunal Ghosh who happens to. be the TMC spokesman refused to speak for Abhishek’s personal assistant Sumit Roy for whom a lookout notice has been issued for his alleged involvement in a land scam case. Ghosh refused to have anything to do with Roy as he is unconnected with the party.
Ghosh has questioned the use of party funds from its bank accounts for the payment of charges of chartered flights of Abhishek. It is indeed a U-turn from the standpoint when he referred to Abhishek as his general earlier before the election.
The developments in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are pointers to it. Led by Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, 20 dissident MPs out of a total of 28 have sought Speaker Om Birla’s permission to sit in a separate bloc seeking merger with National Citizens Party of India.
Time was when leaders and activists were only too eager to join Trinamool Congress. Now it has no takers post poll debacle. The dissidents led by Dr Ghosh Dastidar have also expressed their intent to support the BJP led NDA on different issues. These 20 Lok Sabha members decided their strategy at the house of BJP union minister Bhupendra Yadav and also sought blessings from the Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. So virtually, all of them are in the BJP camp, though for tactical reasons, there might be some distance for few weeks.
As for Rajya Sabha, veteran MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy has already resigned. Newly inducted film actress, Koel Mallik is also planning to resign from the Upper House. Seeking to purge dissidents and regain control, party chairperson Mamata Banerjee dissolved all organisational committees and frontal organisations. But Mala Roy, MP, Kolkata South who was nominated as the chief of the national women’s wing of TMC resigned from her new post and there are others following her example.
As a fallout of electoral debacle, Trinamool Congress has been reduced almost to a “homeless” political outfit. Except for the party’s central party office at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street adjacent to the home of Mamata Banerjee, the other party offices are out of bounds for the party.
Trinamool Bhavan in Eastern Metropolitan bypass has been recently vacated and its owner removed the party banners, boarding and furniture leaving TMC without its central office. Topsia Bhavan at 36G Topsia Road remains under long term reconstruction.
The Delhi office at 20 Rajendra Prasad Road was locked up with posters of senior leadership removed. Rebel MPs are staking claim to the party’s name and symbol. Local TMC party offices have been vandalised. Some have been taken over by rival political outfits. The state BJP with the aid of the state police in districts are targeting the municipality and panchayat officials to resign. These officials who have something to hide, are being pressured to change party or face police action. It is open field for the BJP to take over the entire rural administration even before the Panchayat polls are held.
Pathetic is the condition of ordinary TMC workers. They have been followers of Did Mamata for decades. Many of them are honest and hardcore social workers. These grassroots workers are waiting despite attacks by the BJP hooligans. They still believe that Mamata is invincible, she will emerge again and lead them. Coming days will show whether Mamata reinvents herself as the old Opposition leader and lead the battle against the BJP government. Her path at the moment is difficult but she is at her best at such times of crisis. (IPA Service)
