In many ways the political dominance of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal can be compared to the dominance of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front in the 1980s and 1990s. However, the party which has won almost every election in the State with little or no opposition after its convincing victory over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2021 Assembly polls has been facing its most daunting internal crisis over the past few months.
In parties like the Trinamool, which derives its strength from the charisma of its leader, it is rare to see organisational elections being held in public and to see the party dissolve all posts and reconstitute them in a span of just a few weeks.
On February 2, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was re-elected unopposed as chairperson of the party. On February 12, she dissolved all the posts of the party, including that of national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, her nephew. She set up a 20-member working committee, which included Mr. Banerjee and party loyalists, some of whom were district presidents and MLAs. Six days later, she reappointed her nephew as general secretary and introduced three new vice presidents of the party — former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha and two loyalists, Subrata Bakshi and Chandrima Bhattacharya. This is seen as an attempt to introduce checks and balances in the party. There is more to these developments than emotive family issues; this is Ms. Banerjee’s way of ensuring that the party top brass and rank and file know who is the boss.
