Mamata must remain supreme leader: First cracks emerge in TMC rebel camp

A day after engineering one of the most dramatic upheavals in the Trinamool Congress's history, newly recognised leader of opposition Ritabrata Banerjee finds himself confronting an unexpected problem: his own supporters are unwilling to follow him all the way.

Several MLAs from the 'rebel' TMC bloc on Thursday publicly rejected Ritabrata's suggestion that Mamata Banerjee should serve as a "chief adviser" to the reconstituted legislature party, insisting instead that she remain the party's undisputed leader.

The unease surfaced less than 24 hours after Ritabrata pulled off a stunning legislative coup. On Wednesday, 3 June, 58 TMC MLAs broke ranks with the party leadership, elected the expelled former Rajya Sabha MP as leader of the legislature party, and secured recognition from the Assembly speaker, effectively wresting control of the Assembly wing from the organisation led by Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee.

The move elevated Ritabrata to the post of leader of opposition and triggered the gravest internal crisis in the TMC's 28-year history.

Yet, even as the dissidents celebrated their takeover, they continued to insist that Mamata Banerjee remain the party's supreme leader, portraying the rebellion not as a revolt against the party founder but as a corrective to what they described as the growing influence of her nephew and former party national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

For Ritabrata — a politician whose career has taken him from the CPI(M) to the TMC and now into a political arrangement sustained by the support of legislators operating within a BJP-dominated Assembly — the backlash represented an early reminder of the limits of the coalition he has assembled.

"We were told that the party would continue under Mamata Banerjee's leadership. She is not merely an adviser. We want the party to function under her leadership," rebel MLA Gulshan Mullick told reporters after a meeting of the dissident camp.

His warning was even more striking. "If Mamata Banerjee is not accepted as the supreme leader, then we will have to think whether we should remain in this bloc or not," the Panchla legislator said.

Sitai MLA Sangeeta Roy Basunia echoed the sentiment. "Mamata Banerjee is our supreme leader and will remain so. She cannot be an adviser. She is our leader," she said.

The remarks exposed a contradiction that has lurked beneath the rebellion from the outset.

The dissidents have sought to present themselves as the authentic inheritors of the TMC's political legacy, arguing that their battle is with Abhishek Banerjee rather than with the party founder herself. That distinction has been central to their political argument, allowing them to challenge the existing leadership structure without appearing to repudiate the figure around whom the party was built.

Ritabrata's suggestion that Mamata Banerjee be designated "chief adviser" was widely interpreted as an attempt to soften the political blow of the rebellion and reassure party workers that the movement was not directed against her personally. But Thursday's reaction suggested that sections of the rebel camp viewed any diminution of her authority with considerable discomfort.

The issue goes beyond questions of nomenclature.

The dissidents have not only claimed loyalty to Mamata Banerjee but have also signalled that they intend to maintain a largely cooperative relationship with the BJP government headed by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari.

At Thursday's meeting, the rebel legislators discussed constituency-level issues, pending cases involving party workers and administrative concerns affecting their districts.

Mullick said a committee had been formed to take up these matters with the chief minister and director-general of police. "We discussed problems faced by people in our constituencies, court cases and police excesses. A team has been formed which will speak to the chief minister and the DGP on these matters," he said.

The language was revealing. Rather than outlining a programme of confrontation against the government, the bloc appeared to be positioning itself as an intermediary seeking administrative redress through engagement with the ruling dispensation.

That has raised questions about the precise nature of the rebellion itself.

Having seized control of the legislature party, the dissidents now face the challenge of defining what exactly they are rebelling against. If Mamata Banerjee remains the supreme leader and the BJP government is not the principal adversary, the movement risks being reduced to a campaign directed primarily against Abhishek Banerjee.

For many of the rebel legislators, that may be sufficient. Throughout the revolt, they repeatedly maintained that their objective was not to dismantle the party's founding leadership structure but to challenge what they saw as the concentration of power around Mamata Banerjee's nephew.

But Ritabrata's adviser remark appears to have inadvertently forced a question the dissidents had carefully avoided: was this a rebellion against Abhishek Banerjee, or against Mamata Banerjee herself?

Judging by Thursday's reactions, many of the MLAs who helped Ritabrata seize control of the legislature party are determined that it remain the former. In doing so, they may also have exposed the limits of the movement.

The rebels agree on what they oppose. They do not yet appear to agree on what comes next. How they resolve that contradiction may determine whether the upheaval remains a pressure movement operating within the TMC tradition or evolves into a more fundamental political rupture.

With PTI inputs