In fight against BJP, Trinamool pitches itself as face of Opposition

The move for a nationwide opposition front against the BJP has hit a mid-course turbulence with one of the proponents of the plan, the Trinamool Congress, trying to pitch itself as a main face of the possible alliance, downgrading the Congress.

The TMC’s ambition got manifested in a series of recent offensives the party mounted against the Congress, accusing it of confronting the BJP with a velvet glove, and even calling itself the “aashol [real] Congress”.

Campaigning for her Bhabanipur bypoll, TMC chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee frequently accused the Congress of “succumbing to the fear of victimisation” by the BJP.

Addressing a rally at the constituency’s Shakespeare Sarani on Saturday, Banerjee even went to the extent of claiming that the Congress “every now and then strikes secret deals with the BJP”. Hence, she said, only the TMC can “dethrone” the BJP government at the Centre.

Earlier in another public rally, she had asked why the central investigating agencies did not target the leaders of the CPI (M) and the Congress. “Yes, it had targeted Chidambaram [senior Congress leader P Chidambaram]. But did they [central agencies] touch the main persons?” she added.

Though Banerjee did not specify whom she called “main persons”, seemingly she was referring to the top leadership of the Congress or, to be precise, the party’s acting president Sonia Gandhi and former president Rahul Gandhi.

Carrying forward the unprovoked attacks further, the TMC mouthpiece Jago Bangla in an editorial in its latest edition even claimed that it was the TMC which was the real “flag-bearer of the Congress heritage” today.

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“The Congress is currently unsuccessful and disoriented… Whoever is still in the Congress is welcome in the TMC,” the editorial said.

The barbs coincide with the TMC’s strategy to expand its base beyond West Bengal by poaching Congress leaders. Close on the heels of roping in former president of the All India Mahila Congress and former MP from Silchar in Assam Sushmita Dev, the TMC is now all set to net Goa Congress strongman and former chief minister Luizinho Falerio.

Falerio resigned as Congress MLA on Monday (September 27), dropping a broad hint that he would be joining the TMC.

“I am a Congressman of 40 years. And I will continue to be a Congressman of the Congress family. This family has to come together if we have to fight Modi. Among all the four Congresses, it is Mamata who has given a tough fight to Narendra Modi and their juggernaut,” Falerio was quoted as saying by media reports after his resignation.

Another former Congress chief minister Mukul Sangma of Meghalaya too reportedly met TMC leaders in Kolkata recently. Sangma was sulking ever since former Union minister Vincent Pala was made the new Meghalaya Pradesh Congress chief in August.

In West Bengal too, the TMC is frequently raiding the Congress stable. Only last week a former Congress MLA, Moinul Haque, joined the TMC at Jangipur in Murshidabad. Haque was a five-time Farakka MLA and the Congress’s in-charge for Jharkhand.

Other prominent state Congress leaders to join the TMC in the recent past include former Congress MP and Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit  Mukherjee and former state Congress chief Somen Mitra’s wife Sikha Mitra.

The TMC’s strategy vis-a-vis the Congress has put a serious question mark on its sincerity towards the pan-India opposition front. More so as there had been at least about a dozen instances of the former attacking the latter even since Banerjee called on Sonia Gandhi in the presence of Rahul Gandi in New Delhi on July 28 to make a show of opposition unity.

Taking serious exceptions to these attacks, the state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the TMC could not yet decide whether its fight was against Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi. “Undoubtedly, the BJP will be very happy to see that the Congress is being attacked by the TMC,” Chowdhury told media persons.

What surprised the Congress more is that it has been attacked despite the fact that to push for the opposition unity it did not put up a candidate against Banerjee for the Bhabanipur bypoll as a “goodwill gesture”.

The TMC is clearly not in the mood to reciprocate the Congress’s olive branch, jeopardising the unity move.

“The TMC only talks about the opposition unity. In reality it is trying to harm the unity. It must clear its position as to who is its main opponent, the BJP or the Congress,” said senior CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty.                  rt