The process of churning that began in the Trinamul Congress in Birbhum following the Bogtui massacre reached the next stage on Thursday when district party president Anubrata Mondal linked Anarul Hussain, who was arrested in the case, to Rampurhat MLA and deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee.
The ongoing turmoil in Trinamul in Birbhum had begun when Mamata Banerjee had disowned Hussain, who was party president of Rampurhat I block, within 60 hours of the carnage.
The two developments, multiple Trinamul insiders said, do not augment well for the ruling party in Birbhum, where it has 10 out of 11 MLAs and control all six municipalities and 160-odd gram panchayats, a majority of which don’t have even a single Opposition member.
“In the absence of the Opposition, all looked well.… Suddenly, the picture seems strikingly different,” said a Trinamul leader in Calcutta.
According to him, the manner in which Mondal passed the buck for Anarul’s arrest to Banerjee signals the possible beginning of a self-destructive trend, which may cost the party dear in future.
“This seems to be the beginning of a blame game series and I don’t know where it will end.… This is what happens if there is no Opposition,” the leader added.
Several Trinamul leaders this correspondent spoke to have said on condition of anonymity that the party’s biggest problem in today’s context is its near hegemony across most of south Bengal, a trend that began with Birbhum.
“The recent trouble over the formation of civic boards indicated that we are fighting among ourselves as we don’t have the Opposition to fight with,” said a veteran leader.
Birbhum, for example, he said, had not been a troubled place for the party till 2018 when the Opposition had some presence in the district.
“In the 2013 panchayat polls, the Left parties had won at least 10 zilla parishad seats, majority of which were in Rampurhat. But since the 2018 panchayat polls when Trinamul won 95 per cent seats uncontested, trouble within the party began,” said a Trinamul leader in Birbhum.
Although Mondal’s differences with Banerjee tumbled out in the open on Thursday, most Trinamul insiders in the district know that the duo have never been on the same page. “But this did not hurt Trinamul till 2018 as the party was united in its fight against the CPM. But as soon as the Opposition became weak, the differences became apparent,” said a Trinamul source in the district.
A bureaucrat who had worked in Birbhum in the recent past said the infighting in the ruling party started over the spoils of illegal sand and stone trade in the district.
“Initially, the difference within the party was more or less political. But as soon as there was no Opposition, two or more groups of the ruling party began fighting with each other over spoils,” said the bureaucrat.
Mondal, sources said, always wanted to control Rampurhat, but Banerjee and his alleged clique — including his nephew Abhishek and others — didn’t give the space that the district Trinamul president wanted.
“Now that there is trouble in Rampurhat, the blame is shifted to Asish-da.... If this discredits him, its advantage Keshto-da (as Mondal is called fondly by his supporters),” said a source.
