A birthday is seldom complete without birthday bumps. It was thus fitting that the Trinamul Congress witnessed a rather bumpy birthday — its foundation day — this year when the old guard — loyal lieutenants of Mamata Banerjee — crossed swords with those who stand with the heir-apparent, Abhishek Banerjee. The exchange of fire between Subrata Bakshi and Kunal Ghosh, the representatives of the two warring factions, epitomised the contest between the vieux and the nouveau segments. The war of words can be attributed to differences in opinion between Ms Banerjee and her nephew. Apparently, the two are not on the same page on a number of prickly issues. These include disagreements over Mr Banerjee’s formula to pick candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, his endorsement of an age ceiling and the one-person, one-post principle, and inputs on organisational changes. The Bengal chief minister’s decision to press the pause button on the campaign to demand the release of frozen Central funds — an initiative that was being led by Mr Banerjee — has added fuel to the fire. Such troubles in the TMC’s First Family are not new: they have taken place and been resolved in the past. But the timing of the present tiff is said to be hampering the party’s preparations for the general elections. That has added to the anxiety in the ranks.
What is risible though is the attempt to describe the exchange of fire as an instance of ‘internal democracy’. The freedom to express opinion, especially by the rank and file, is a rarity in Indian political outfits. Regimented political entities, such as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left outfits, take their cue from those at the top of the hierarchy. At the other end are political organisations that function around a single — singular — person or family. Traditionally, the Congress and regional parties — the Trinamul Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, among others — have belonged to this category. The BJP under Narendra Modi has also become one such entity. Here, the chain of command begins and ends with the supreme leader. Differences of opinion — ‘internal democracy’ — begin to sharpen with the weakening of the paterfamilias or, in the TMC’s case, when the materfamilias does not see eye to eye with the political heir. The lieutenants merely get to choose which leader they would side with by reading the tea leaves. This, by no stretch of the imagination, is a template of inner democracy. It has another name: factional feuding.
