Rebel Trinamool Bloc Ousts Mamata Banerjee as Chairperson, Appoints Arup Roy

Mamata Banerjee (File photo)

KOLKATA: The rebel Trinamool bloc led by leader of opposition in the state assembly Ritabrata Banerjee on Monday removed Mamata Banerjee from the post of party’s chairperson and replaced her with former minister and four-time Howrah MLA Arup Roy.

The meeting that decided the Trinamool founder’s removal lasted a little more than half-an-hour and came more than six weeks after Trinamool’s defeat in the assembly election. It also made it clear that it would be moving Election Commission to seek recognition as the “real” All-India Trinamool Congress and claim the party’s symbol; it also unveiled a new “Trinamool National Working Committee”.

The new NWC has 10 members and includes some of Mamata’s closest decades-long confidants. It has former Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, former state sports minister Aroop Biswas, MLAs Sabina Yasmin and Rathin Ghosh (both vice-presidents) and Ritabrata, Sandipan Saha and Biplab Mitra (all general secretaries) besides Roy.

The special session also did not have any Mamata photograph on the dais. “We displayed the images of the Father of the Nation (Mahatma Gandhi), the framer of the Indian Constitution (B R Ambedkar) and the most celebrated Bengali (Rabindranath Tagore), besides that of rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam,” Ritabrata said, adding, “We have maintained that she can serve as the chief adviser. This decision was taken unanimously. ”

The loyalist faction of the party responded to the rebels’ latest move, terming Mamata’s removal from the party she founded “backstabbing their own mother”. It also sent show-cause notices to Hakim, Biswas, Roy, Javed Khan, Ghosh, Mitra, Snehasis Chakraborty and Yasmin for “deliberately indulging in anti-party activities”.

“The party currently does not have a valid NWC. So we formed one. The party needs to follow rules, not be run by whims and fancies,” Ritabrata said, explaining the legal loophole that the rebels were trying to exploit. Ritabrata, addressing the special session (where he was the sole speaker), claimed Article 20 of the party’s constitution decreed an NWC must be formed at least once every three years. Trinamool’s last NWC was formed on Feb 12, 2022 (according to records submitted to Election Commission), he said.

“We held a special session and unanimously decided on the office-bearers. Party committees will now be set up at state and district levels,” he added.

The loyalists dismissed this with Beleghata MLA and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh calling it “a comedy show”. “A man expelled from Trinamool is holding a special session. The matter is in court and we believe justice will prevail. We do not give any importance to such comic behaviour. Trinamool is equal to Mamata Banerjee. All else is a circus,” he added.

“The people quitting the party have all been ministers, mayors and councillors with her (Mamata) at the helm. Today they are backstabbing her. These people are capable of backstabbing their own mother,” he said.

Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra said the party constitution did not allow “any chairperson other than Mamata”. “Everything else is illegal. Trinamool Congress is Mamata Banerjee,” he said.

The special session at a private hotel in New Town with rebel MLAs as delegates also featured 50 former Kolkata Municipal Corporation councillors, indicating which way they might swing in the next civic poll (that is likely to take place later this year). What added to the discomfiture of the loyalist faction was the presence of outgoing councillor Saurav Bhattacharya, son of state Trinamool president and Mamata loyalist Chandrima Bhattacharya.

Ritabrata also indicated that another MLA, currently part of the Mamata faction, would soon join the rebel camp. “All this will be formally communicated to the EC. We have also appointed a special auditor (to examine the party’s accounts). It needs to be investigated whether the bank accounts contain stolen money or ‘cut money’,” he added.