TMC name, symbol freeze pushes Mamata closer to Congress and INDIA bloc

The setback suffered by Mamata Banerjee’s faction after the Election Commission (EC) froze the Trinamool Congress’s twin-flower symbol was felt on the ground on Saturday (September 19) when its Rejinagar candidate, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, flip-flopped over his decision to contest the election.

Also read | EC freezes TMC name, symbol for bypolls; rival factions told to pick new identities

Chowdhury had announced his decision to quit the race, explicitly attributing it to the freezing of the symbol, saying there was too little time to familiarise voters and party workers with the new symbol. “The party has a new symbol. It will create problems in making it known to workers and supporters within such a short time,” he had said, explaining his decision.

Mamata faction changes poll strategy

Shortly after making the announcement, Chowdhury changed his mind after speaking to party chief Mamata Banerjee. “I am changing my decision after speaking to Didi and will start campaigning from today,” he said. On being asked about his earlier concern about the symbol, he said, “We will face the problem and see what happens.”

Chowdhury’s vacillation came a day after the EC allotted Mamata’s faction the name Mamata All India Trinamool Congress and the Football Player symbol, ending its immediate claim to the Trinamool Congress name and the twin flowers.

Mamata’s new outfit on Friday decided not to be in the fray in the Nandigram Assembly bypoll and the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election in Assam. In these two seats, her faction had fielded candidates under the twin-flower symbol.

The party took the decision shortly after its Nandigram candidate Sanchita Pradhan De withdrew from the contest. Mamata subsequently announced that her faction would support the Congress candidate in the two seats.

New identity faces voter test

Notwithstanding Chowdhury’s U-turn, the development has exposed the immediate difficulty facing a party that has spent nearly three decades building its electoral identity around the twin flowers.

The new name of the outfit may carry Mamata’s name and political imprint, but party insiders admit that taking an unfamiliar symbol to voters in a matter of days is a difficult task.

Senior Mamata TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee also acknowledged that the change of symbol would pose difficulties for the party, while arguing that TMC remains a Mamata-centric organisation and that her name is now part of the party’s new identity.

Assam unit drops bypoll bid

Chowdhury’s flip-flop has given the rival Ritabrata faction an opportunity to question precisely that argument.

Ritabrata faction leader Asaduzzaman attacked the Mamata camp over Chowdhury’s earlier decision, saying her candidates were themselves losing faith in her name and were leaving the contest anticipating a humiliating defeat.

Also read | Nandigram bypoll: Cong candidate arrested soon after TMC offers support

The problem is not confined to Bengal. In Assam, the state Trinamool unit has decided not to contest the Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll after the EC froze the party’s original name and symbol.

Assam Pradesh Trinamool Congress state convener and MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed said, “In protest against this, we have decided not to contest the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency by-election.”

Mamata draws closer to Congress

“The EC’s decision has left Mamata and her new outfit with the arduous challenge of starting almost from where it began nearly 29 years ago. And the difficulty of mobilising party supporters under a fresh banner, amid the odds and institutional pressure from the BJP government, has been laid bare by Chowdhury’s indecisiveness,” opined political commentator and columnist Debasish Chakraborty.

This challenge is perhaps now pushing Mamata closer to the Congress, a party whose help she took to dislodge the CPI(M)-led Left Front government in 2011, he added.

Incidentally, before the nominations for the by-elections, the Mamata faction had approached the Congress with a seat-sharing proposal, offering Nandigram to the Congress while seeking to contest minority-dominated Rejinagar. The Congress reportedly rejected the proposal, leaving Mamata sulking at the grand old party from which she broke away to form the AITC in 1998.

The speculation about her drifting away from the Congress had gained further momentum when DMK MP Kanimozhi met her at her Kalighat residence on September 17 for about an hour, after reportedly meeting Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule.

Neither side disclosed the agenda, but the meeting triggered speculation about regional parties opposed to the BJP exploring the possibility of a third front.

Congress backs Mamata amid row

All that speculation was, however, set aside by the fresh bonhomie between the Mamata faction of the TMC and the Congress following the EC’s interim order, which came barely hours after the Mamata-Kanimozhi meeting.

Also read | ‘Black day in democracy’: Mamata attacks EC over TMC name, symbol freeze

Congress leaders rallied behind Mamata and her party over the freezing of the name and symbol. Rahul Gandhi spoke to Mamata and publicly criticised the EC’s action, accusing the BJP and the poll panel of working together to “break parties and steal symbols”.

With the party’s name and symbol frozen, Mamata is now placing greater emphasis on strengthening the Congress-led INDIA bloc to fight the BJP, party insiders said.

“We are extending our support to Congress in Assam. In Nandigram, too, we are extending our support to the Congress. We are doing this for the greater interest of the nation and to strengthen the INDIA bloc,” Mamata unilaterally announced at a press conference, signalling her keenness to strengthen ties with the Congress in the face of the new political reality.