Switching sides: ‘History is repeating itself in West Bengal,’ says opposition

Even as Trinamool Congress supremo, Mamata Banerjee is crying foul and alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party has nibbled into her party, opposition leaders and political experts said it was the TMC which had started the practice of defection. They said the history is just repeating itself after a decade.

On Wednesday, Banerjee had alleged that the BJP was calling up veteran leaders of her party, including the TMC’s state president, in a bid to break the party. The BJP has refuted the charges.

“BJP called up Subrata Bakshi, TMC’s state president and a Rajya Sabha MP, and tried to fix a meeting. Anubrata Mondol (another TMC veteran) called me up from Birbhum district and said that he received a call from a BJP leader from Delhi who wanted to fix a meeting. Look at the audacity and the extent to which BJP can go. How dangerous? They don’t have the minimum courtesy,” said Banerjee, while speaking at a rally in Cooch Behar on Thursday.

This is, however, not the first time that the TMC has accused the BJP of trying to break the party. The party chief had earlier alleged that the BJP was distributing money and using central agencies to scare TMC leaders into joining the BJP. “Those who got scared switched sides,” she said.

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While former TMC leaders and legislators including Mukul Roy, Saumitra Khan and Anupam Hazra had earlier switched sides and are now with the BJP holding seniors posts, the latest in the line was TMC MLA from Cooch Behar (south), Mihir Goswami. Former transport minister Suvendu Adhikari has also resigned and speculations are rife that he, along with a few other TMC leaders, could join the BJP soon.

“A political party will not survive if it doesn’t have any policies and values. It can take birth but will not be able to sustain. The TMC came to power opposing the CPIM and the Congress and now except for abusing the Prime Minister and Union home minister and branding the BJP a communal party, they have no task. So the end of the TMC has started and no political leader will stay in that party. It is just a matter of time,” said Mukul Roy, BJP’s national vice president.

Opposition leaders have hit back saying that it was Banerjee and her party who first started the trend of breaking other parties using force and now she is being paid back in the same coin.

“History has a nasty habit of repeating itself and Banerjee is being paid back in the same coin. Several Congress legislators in the party’s bastions in Murshidabad and Malda were forced to quit and were threatened of being implicated in false cases if they don’t join TMC. Those who did the job for the TMC at that time are now with the BJP and are doing the same thing with her,” said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha.

Several Congress leaders and legislators including Manas Bhunia, Ajoy De, Saumitra Khan, Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury and Humayun Kabir had deserted the party since 2011 to join the TMC. Some have been given ministerial berths.

Similarly, legislators and leaders from various Left parties, including Chhaya Dolai, Anantadeb Adhikary Dasarath Tirkey and Sunil Mandal, had joined the TMC over the past 10 years.

“Many a time during the Left Front’s regime it happened that there was a neck-to-neck tie with the TMC which was then in the opposition. We, however, made no efforts to break into the TMC. It was Banerjee’s party which started this game after she came to power in 2011. Since then, multiple legislators from various Left parties have joined the TMC,” said Sujan Chakraborty, leader of the Left parties in the assembly.

While Khan deserted the TMC to join the BJP later on, Mandal, now a TMC MLA, has already expressed his disgruntlement and has threatened to resign.

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“Those who are suffering from an existential crisis are making such baseless allegations. Mamata Banerjee has been working for the people and will continue to do so. There would not be any difference if one or two leaders switch sides,” said Chandrima Bhattacharya, state minister and senior TMC leader.

The TMC had won 184 seats out of the 294 assembly seats in the 2011 elections when it came to power overthrowing 34 years of Left Front regime. The seat count increased to 211 in 2016 elections.

Political experts also said that defection has never been the practice in West Bengal barring one in the 60’s. It was a practice which started after 2011.

“Defection was never the trend in Bengal politics. But the TMC government started this. Opposition leaders were roped in either by force or by luring them. Now, the TMC is at the receiving end,” said Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, political commentator and former principal of Presidency College.