In 2006, when Partha Chatterjee was elected Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, a group of journalists asked him about the new responsibility. “There is no one else around,” Mr. Chatterjee said. Clearly, in the formative years of the Trinamool Congress, Mr. Chatterjee was one of its tallest leaders after Mamata Banerjee. During the tumultuous times between 2006 and 2011, when protests against forcible land acquisition at Singur and Nandigram rocked West Bengal politics, Ms. Banerjee and Mr. Chatterjee took on the mighty Left Front, which had 235 MLAs compared to the Trinamool’s 30. Mr. Chatterjee was the voice of Opposition both inside the House and outside. Many still recall how he squatted outside the office of former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee during the Nandigram agitation.
For such a promising political leader whose career spanned several decades, the fall was sudden and steep. The dramatic recovery of cash amounting to ₹50 crore and several kilograms of gold from two properties of Arpita Mukherjee, an associate of the Minister, has not only shocked political circles but even the rank and file of the Trinamool. According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the cash and jewellery was seized when the agency was conducting raids in the School Service Commission recruitment scam, which involves irregularities in recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in State-run schools. Mr. Chatterjee, along with his associate, was arrested on July 23 and will be under ED custody till August 3. He has been stripped of his ministerial and party responsibilities.
