Why removal of Partha Chatterjee shows the rise of Abhishek Banerjee in Bengal politics

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress party and supremo Mamata Banerjee have witnessed many ups and down in their journey. The main conflict inside the TMC has been about who is the second in command or number two.

This is the story of all the political parties running on the image of one individual. The recent Partha Chatterjee and Bengal SSC scam row have devastated the conscience of the citizens of Bengal. But this row also made one thing clear Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of Mamata Banerjee is the undisputed number two in the party. 

In a significant development on Thursday, Bengal chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee removed one of his closest lieutenants, Partha Chatterjee, from all three Cabinet positions. Later, in the evening, the nephew of Mamata Banerjee and the all-India general secretary of the TMC, Abhishek Banerjee, removed Partha Chatterjee from all the five organisational posts.

For a leader like Mamata Banerjee to distance herself from the closest confidence is not a well-known act. In the past, Banerjee has stood strong against her party colleagues and even IPS and IAS officials when the central agencies have put charges against them. This decision by Mamata Banerjee shows that in the course of time, several things have changed in her politics and within her own organisation.

Partha Chatterjee, a long-serving minister in the Banerjee Cabinet, was taken into custody on July 23 after ED agents found Rs 20 crore in cash at the home of his alleged close aide Arpita Mukherjee. According to the investigative authorities, the claimed sum, which is piled up in her home, is related to irregularities in the hiring of teachers, clerks, and personnel in state-run institutions. Cash was once again retrieved from one of Mukherjee's properties in this incident. The arrest of Mukherjee was caused by the seizure of cash and jewellery. Cash and jewellery worth more than 50 crores have already been confiscated at two locations. In recent years, Kolkata has experienced its largest cash seizure.

How Abhishek Banerjee appeared as the troubleshooter

For a long time, the Trinamool Congress has been suffering from the absence of a dynamic troubleshooter. One of the most trusted lieutenants of Mamata Banerjee was Mukul Roy, who became worried about the rise of Abhishek Banerjee inside the TMC and left the party to join the BJP. However, after the historic victory of the TMC in the Bengal 2021 assembly elections, Roy returned to the party again, but he had already lost his political credibility. The TMC has been running without any troubleshooters, but when the Partha Chatterjee row took place, this absence became bigger. Mamata Banerjee made a speech on the issue, but the party realised that it was not enough to douse the fire of embarrassment inside the supporters and leaders. Abhishek did not miss the opportunity to appear as the troubleshooter. 

First, he held a closed-door meeting with senior leadership to discuss the line of the party immediately after the arrest of Partha Chatterjee. On Thursday, Abhishek again called an emergency meeting of the disciplinary committee of the party where they decided to remove Partha Chatterjee from all the posts of the party. Significantly, Abhishek Banerjee also reached out to the SSC applicants who have been protesting against the state government, claiming alleged irregularities in the recruitment. He had a telephone conversation with the protesters, and today he has already met a delegation of the protesters. There is no doubt that without the approval of Mamata Banerjee, these are not happening, but Abhishek's appearance as the troubleshooter is a significant development in the politics of the TMC.

How Abhishek Banerjee has been demanding organisational revamp 

After the emergence of the Narada sting operation, where several top leaders of the party were seen to have taken cash, Abhishek Banerjee reportedly demanded an overhaul of the organisation. But Mamata Banerjee did not listen at that time. Like any other dynastic political party, Mamata Banerjee is now trying to make way for her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee. This is not something happening today, but for the past 10 years. But now Mamata Banerjee has realised that in every big decision, Abhishek Banerjee should be allowed to take a call. In this incident, several leaders close to Abhishek Banerjee like Kunal Ghosh, Debangshu Bhattacharya, and others made public statements that Partha Chatterjee should be removed with immediate effect. According to TMC insiders, Mamata Banerjee wanted to wait longer to remove Partha Chatterjee, but when she witnessed that leaders close to Abhishek Banerjee were making such comments, she ordered Abhishek to hold a meeting of the disciplinary committee of the TMC to discuss this matter.

According to the sources, Abhishek Banerjee has been demanding to remove tainted politicians and leaders from the cabinet and other organisational positions. But Mamata Banerjee was not doing that because she believed such drastic measures might harm the organisation. However, now a significant section of the TMC leadership believes that Mamata Banerjee has realised that it is the only way to deal with this situation. Political observers in Bengal have also pointed out that with the removal of Partha Chatterjee now in the TMC, there is not a single leader who can take the number two position except Abhishek Banerjee. This is why for the TMC and Mamata Banerjee, there is no other way than to allow Abhishek Banerjee to rise. 

Why removal of Partha Chatterjee ensures there is no party post in between Mamata and Abhishek

After the Bengal assembly elections, differences of opinion between Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek came to light. Abhishek Banerjee wanted one person to be in only one post. However, Mamata Banerjee did not agree with this decision. After dissolving the working committee, Mamata Banerjee reconstituted the party's highest decision-making body in February. Partha Chatterjee was appointed as the secretary general of the party. The insiders of the TMC believe that between the chairperson of the party, which is Mamata Banerjee, and the national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, the post of secretary general comes.

After the removal of Partha Chatterjee from this post, right now in the TMC, there is no other person holding any organisational position between Mamata and Abhishek. According to the political observers of Bengal, this is also a clear message to the supporters of the party that the topmost leadership of the TMC is together and will never approve of corruption. 

Why it is time for Mamata Banerjee to entirely listen to Abhishek's demands of an organisational overhaul

Political observers of Bengal believe that it is high time for Mamata Banerjee to listen to Abhishek Banerjee in terms of the organisational overhaul. Abhishek Banerjee was the key person behind bringing Prashant Kishor and I-PAC to Bengal before the Bengal assembly elections. With the help of this organisation, the party was able to identify several corrupt leaders and remove them from the organisation or did not provide election tickets. However, the insiders of the TMC believe such leaders left the party and joined the BJP before the 20201 Bengal Assembly elections but eventually returned. If Mamata Banerjee hadn’t listened to Abhishek in this regard then the party could have faced a setback in the assembly elections just like it did during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The political observers of Bengal also believe that Abhishek Banerjee has the youth leadership behind him and also has a pragmatic political outlook. He not only believes that TMC should only promote leaders with clean past history but also stands for the idea that only one post should be given to one leader. 

Trinamool congress has the potential to grow out of Bengal. But Mamata Banerjee is stuck within her own “kothri” of leadership and does not have a vision or ambition beyond Bengal. But Abhishek has the potential to use the image of Mamata Banerjee and mix it with the pragmatism of the youth to go beyond Bengal.