Battle for Bengal municipalities: After state, BJP eyes TMC’s local power bases

After conquering the West Bengal Assembly, the BJP is trying to weaken the Trinamool Congress Party's hold over the local bodies in the state. Some of its early attempts are already bearing fruits as there have been mass resignations of councillors at Kolkatta Municipal Corporation (KMC).

The confrontation sharpened dramatically on Friday (May 22) when the monthly session of the KMC could not be held in the main house chamber after civic officials did not open the room, forcing the TMC councillors to shift proceedings to the councillors’ recreation room inside the headquarters building in Kolkata, the state capital.

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The scenes unfolded days after KMC authorities issued notices seeking documents related to properties linked to TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and his family in Kolkata.

Mayor unaware of the move?

The notices sparked speculation about how much authority the KMC’s elected body still wielded after senior leaders, including Mayor Firhad Hakim, said they were unaware of the move.

Together, the incidents have deepened the TMC's suspicions that the BJP government is using civic administrative machinery and corruption investigations to create instability in municipalities that formed the backbone of the former's urban political network.

Municipalities in Bengal are not merely civic institutions. They are political ecosystems. Weakening those institutions weakens the party organisation itself.

“This is not happening randomly anymore,” said a senior TMC leader. “The objective is to create confusion within civic bodies, isolate councillors and gradually weaken the organisational structure.”

The apprehension was reflected in the comments of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and Firhad after Friday’s drama in KMC, which even led to a police complaint being lodged by the civic body’s chairperson, Mala Roy.

The chairperson presides over meetings of the municipal corporation and handles procedural and administrative functions related to the civic body’s proceedings.

'Do not resign, stay grounded'

“Do not resign……. the moment you resign, they will swoop in. Stay grounded and continue serving the people,” Mamata told councillors at a meeting at her residence in Kalighat on Friday (May 22), while Firhad described the confrontation inside KMC as “a black day for the municipality” and urged officials to work together for ordinary people instead of creating conflict.

The BJP rejected the allegation and said it is merely exposing years of corruption, extortion and administrative collapse under the TMC rule.

“This is a municipal corporation, not a Trinamool party office. The law will run according to rules, not according to the wishes of Firhad Hakim or the TMC,” BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh said after the KMC controversy.

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He also accused the TMC of trying to create “artificial chaos” inside civic bodies after losing power in the state.

The political battle over municipalities is not just limited to the KMC.

Although the new government has not formally announced any plan to dissolve municipal corporations, developments across several civic bodies suggest the municipalities are rapidly emerging as the arena of political confrontation.

Instability in civic bodies in N 24 Parganas

The clearest signs of instability have surfaced in municipalities across North 24 Parganas and adjoining industrial areas.

In Bhatpara Municipality, 30 of the civic body’s 35 councillors, including chairperson Reba Raha, resigned on Friday. In nearby Halisahar Municipality, 16 of the 23 councillors stepped down, while 14 councillors resigned from Kanchrapara Municipality.

Publicly, several councillors cited personal reasons or organisational disputes. Privately, however, many TMC leaders admitted that fear of police action and corruption probes was spreading rapidly through municipalities where councillors had long operated with considerable political protection under the previous regime.

That nervousness has grown after a series of arrests involving municipal leaders linked to the TMC.

On Wednesday (May 20), police arrested Ranjan Poddar, councillor of Ward 34 in Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and chairman of Borough 5, over allegations that money was regularly collected from bus and auto operators in Salt Lake and Karunamoyee areas in Kolkata.

Days earlier, Bidhannagar councillor Samrat Barua was arrested in another alleged extortion case.

In Cooch Behar, TMC councillor Ujjal Tar was arrested over allegations linked to threats and intimidation during the assembly election campaign.

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The unnatural death of a TMC councillor from South Dumdum municipality on Saturday (May 23) added to the atmosphere of anxiety already prevailing among local civic representatives.

BJP's two-pronged ploy

Many municipalities are already struggling to function because elected representatives have stopped attending offices regularly.

Political analysts say the BJP appears to be pursuing a twin-track strategy.

On one side, its government has framed its actions as an administrative clean-up of municipalities allegedly plagued by corruption and syndicate activity under the TMC rule.

On the other, the resulting pressure on councillors and chairpersons has begun destabilising the local political structure that sustained the TMC in urban Bengal for more than a decade.

“Municipalities in Bengal are not merely civic institutions. They are political ecosystems,” said Siliguri-based senior journalist Probir Pramanik. “They control contracts, local patronage, licensing, neighbourhood influence and mobilisation networks. Weakening those institutions weakens the party organisation itself.”

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The government has already moved to appoint administrators in some municipalities. TMC-nominated boards in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Buniyadpur were dissolved recently, while administrators were brought into key civic positions elsewhere, including in the Howrah Municipal Corporation.

The confrontation in KMC particularly carries political significance because Kolkata remains the TMC’s most symbolically important urban stronghold despite the party’s state-level defeat.

TMC-BJP tussle overshadows civic administration

Friday’s dispute over the municipal session reflected the growing tension between elected TMC representatives and sections of the civic bureaucracy now operating under the new BJP government.

KMC chairperson Roy accused municipal secretary Kishore Kumar Biswas of failing to cooperate in conducting the house session despite prior communication.

The TMC-run board later passed resolutions condemning what it described as administrative obstruction.

The mayor warned that continued disruption inside the corporation could affect civic services and monsoon preparedness.

Abhishek Banerjee property row

The notices related to Abhishek's property added to the tensions because they appeared to demonstrate that even the KMC’s administrative machinery was no longer functioning entirely under the political control of the TMC leadership.

The leader accused the BJP government of political vendetta and challenged authorities to specify what was allegedly illegal about the properties.

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While the supremo tried to boost the TMC's civic network by assuring the councillors and mayoral board members at Friday's meeting that the party stands by them and would provide legal assistance if they faced investigation or administrative action, as revealed by party leaders, it still exposed signs of strain within the organisation, with several councillors reportedly absent despite the seriousness of the situation.