The sudden outburst of “internal democracy” in Trinamul — in the form of statements flying thick and fast over the debate on the nouveau versus vieux — is deferring the party’s plans to dive headlong into Lok Sabha poll preparations, multiple sources said on Tuesday.
On Monday, the party’s foundation day programmes witnessed a never-before war of words between leaders from the “new lot” and “old guard” camps.
While the conflict between the new and the old guards is not new in Bengal’s political amphitheatre, Trinamul’s case is different as the debate seems to have divided the party along two factions: one belonging to party supremo Mamata Banerjee and the other to her nephew and party national general secretary Abhishek.
“Some of those who are making statements may call it internal democracy.... But all this is causing irreparable damage to the party as our Lok Sabha poll preparations are getting deferred,” said a source.
“The saffron camp is planning a propaganda overdrive over the Ram temple inauguration. We have to be on the ground to counter it.... But we are talking old versus new, aunt versus nephew,” said a Trinamul veteran and a self-proclaimed fence-sitter on the issue.
“This is good for neither the old nor the new,” he added. “We can win the elections only based on organisational strength down to the booth level, which the BJP does not have. Our booth-level preparations are getting affected (because of this debate).”
Although differences of opinion between the aunt and the nephew are not new — the duo had major differences in February 2022, which were resolved — the degree of divergence is believed to be more this time, various sources said.
On Monday, the party’s foundation day, the meeting between Mamata and Abhishek followed a dramatic exchange of fire between Trinamul’s usually reticent state president Subrata Bakshi, deemed a representative of the so-called old guard, and the party’s vocal state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, believed widely to be Abhishek’s mouthpiece.
On Tuesday, statements from either side of the “divide” — and some that were non-aligned — were issued in public by Trinamul state general secretary Ghosh, Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy, education minister Bratya Basu, Ashoknagar MLA Narayan Goswami, urban development minister and Calcutta mayor Firhad Hakim, Cooch Behar civic chairman Rabindra Nath Ghosh, Baranagar MLA Tapas Roy, and Canning East MLA Saokat Molla.
Of them, Molla — who was in an election-related meeting with Abhishek in the evening — said it was only a matter of days before the Diamond Harbour MP’s return to the mainstream in his old glory.
“If that does happen, it would not be a moment too soon,” said a Trinamul MP.
Most key sections in the top tiers of the leadership remain fairly confident that although the distance between 30B Harish Chatterjee Street and 188A Harish Mukherjee Road has currently increased, it is temporary and will cease before long. But many are anxious over how much time would end up being wasted in the process.
“Everyone in the Trinamul camp is awaiting clarity so that we can all focus on working towards the electoral triumph that matters most to all factions, coteries, cliques,” said the MP, underscoring how Trinamul’s political activities on the ground have practically remained suspended since Durga Puja.
A senior leader said the major political activity was the protests in Delhi and Calcutta led solely by Abhishek, as Mamata was unwell at the time, over the release of frozen central dues for Bengal, in October. Being forced by his aunt to press the pause button on October 9 on the movement was the first of the five main purported triggers of Abhishek’s displeasure.
“Barring a few token events on this, and that inconclusive meeting with (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi on the matter, there has been nothing since,” he said.
This apart, four other elements that irk Abhishek currently, sources said. They are disregard of his suggestions for organisational changes at the district and block levels, Mamata’s unwillingness to accept his proposals for an age ceiling and one-person-one-post principle in party leadership, disagreements over his formulae to pick Lok Sabha poll candidates, and certain senior state bureaucrats allegedly dragging their feet on some of his suggestions to implement welfare schemes.
“For instance, his office had proposed to change at least 150 of the 341 block presidents by November. That’s yet to be done. Several existing block presidents stopped working and withdrew from party activities, fearing removal, while people who were to succeed them never got anointed,” said a senior leader.
Senior political analyst Subhamoy Maitra said he had been closely following the headlines the party has been making in the mainstream media for days, and wondered why they had nothing to do with its social security priorities or key political messages it ought to be sending out in the run-up to the general election.
“Trinamul has been running around in circles over this succession conflict, which has increased manifold over the past few days. They have stopped referring to their premier poll planks such as Lakshmir Bhandar, Swasthya Sathi and Kanyashree,” said eminent political scientist Subhamoy Maitra. “Their senior leadership has apparently been busy wasting time taking sides in this internal feud. This is an area of concern with regard to Trinamul’s mass connect....”