Trinamul leader and state urban development minister Firhad Hakim told the leaders of different factions of the party in Birbhum to stay united and work in close synergy to ensure a massive victory of the party in the 2023 panchayat polls.
Hakim, a trusted aide of Mamata Banerjee, visited Birbhum on Friday, where he held closed-door meetings with party leaders upto the block level amid murmurs that the chief minister sent him to handle growing factionalism in the party in the absence of the party’s district president Anubrata Mondal.
Mondal was arrested in August in connection with multi-crore cattle smuggling case.
“Bobby da (Firhad’s nickname) clearly told us to remain united. He told us in no uncertain terms that the leadership would not tolerate factional feuds and there would be no replacement of Keshto-da (Mondal),” said a Trinamul leader in Birbhum who was present in one meeting.
Mondal, who looked after Trinamul’s organisation in Birbhum, parts of East Burdwan and Murshidabad was arrested by the CBI on charges of providing a safe passage to smuggled cattle to Bangladesh.
In the absence of Mondal, several local leaders like Kajal Sheikh of Nanoor have begun flexing their muscles, which, according to some observers, is disrupting the discipline in the party that the district president had brought by uniting all the warring factions.
“Bobby da said that the party would not allow poll performance to get affected because of this feud. He assured us he will visit the district frequently to monitor the organisation under directives of Mamata Banerjee,” he added.
Sources in Trinamul said that Mamata sent Hakim to Birbhum to take stock of the situation and report to her about the ground reality in the district, which Mondal had turned into a Trinamul fief. The party won around 80 per cent of trural body seats uncontested in 2018 rural polls.
Although Hakim claimed in public that the party’s organisational strength was not affected in Mondal’s absence, the buzz in the party's district unit hints that all is not well.
A source in the party said that the Opposition parties, especially the CPM, are gaining strength in the vacuum created by Mondal’s absence and by organising several political programmes in remote areas.
According to a CPM leader, those Trinamul leaders known as Mondal’s rivals are now helping them silently.
“Some Trinamul leaders, who were known as Anubrata’s rivals expected a change of guard after his arrest... Now that Trinamul leaders have made it clear that they won’t replace him, these leaders are disgruntled and helping us discreetly. In recent times we had conducted meetings in at least a dozen villages where our entry was restricted,” said a CPM leader in Birbhum.
Multiple sources in the Trinamul said they were also witnessing a rise of the CPM as a force in some areas, but expressed hope that Hakim’s message — to be followed by intervention from Mamata and party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee — may change the situation.
The fact that restoring order in the divided house in the Trinamul, however, will be easier said than done.
On Saturday night, when Hakim was restin at the Suri circuit house, a clash broke out barely 7 km away. Faizul Sheikh, 19, was stabbed to death following rivalry between two groups over taking control of a sand mine along the Mayurakshi river.
Police on Sunday arrested 15 persons including former Trinamul’s panchayat samity functionary Kajal Shah on charges of murder. Irate villagers set several houses on fire.The situation turned so grave that Hakim asked the DIG (Burdwan range) Shyam Singh for reinforcement and to take the situation under control.
“I heard bombs exploding till early morning. I called the ADG (law and order). Police would take the situation under control. No one will be spared irrespective of political colours,” said Hakim before leaving for Murshidabad.