How the TMC descended into open rebellion in under two weeks: Can Mamata Banerjee save her party?

Just a month since Trinamool Congress (TMC) was voted out of power in West Bengal, the Mamata Banerjee-led party is staring at a split.

What began with an apparently chance encounter between rebel Trinamool MLA Ritabrata Banerjee and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at Banga Bhavan on May 22 ended on Wednesday with about 59 MLAs wresting control of the party’s legislature wing, electing Ritabrata as their leader and securing recognition from the Assembly Speaker.

The developments unfolding since then lead to what many see as first split in the 28-year-old party. The rebellion may formally fractur a party founded by Mamata Banerjee on January 1, 1998, after breaking away from the Congress.

Yet the seeds of the revolt had been sown much earlier. The rumblings had started on 4 May as TMC stared at defeat and some party leaders criticising the party leadership.

Soon after the Assembly poll defeat at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), unease began surfacing within sections of the party over what some legislators perceived as the growing concentration of authority around Abhishek Banerjee, party chief Mamata Banerjee’s nephew.

At a meeting of newly elected MLAs on 6 May, Mamata Banerjee reportedly asked legislators to rise and applaud Abhishek for his role in the campaign. While intended as recognition of his contribution, the gesture triggered murmurs among a section of legislators who felt the party was increasingly revolving around one family, news agency PTI said.

The first public signs of dissent emerged on 19 May. Ritabrata Banerjee and Entally MLA Sandipan Saha questioned why Falta MLA Jahangir Khan had not been expelled despite publicly announcing his withdrawal from the repoll. Since Jahangir was regarded as being close to Abhishek, the criticism was widely interpreted as a challenge to the TMC national general secretary.

Veteran MLA Kunal Ghosh also voiced similar concerns, though he would later distance himself from the rebel camp, according to the news agency.

Turning point on 22 May

The turning point came three days later on 22 May, when Ritabrata was in Delhi. He visited Banga Bhavan in national capital for lunch and bumped into Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, as per PTI.

Later, Ritabrata publicly welcomed Adhikari’s decision to invite opposition legislators and MPs to administrative review meetings, describing the move as a healthy democratic practice. The remarks immediately drew attention in political circles.

Within days, however, TMC saw another row unfolding. On 25 May, allegations surfaced that signatures of several legislators had been forged on documents submitted to the Speaker regarding the leadership structure of the legislature party.

The dispute acquired a legal dimension on 27 May when Ritabrata and Sandipan formally complained to the Speaker, alleging forgery. The Assembly secretariat subsequently approached the police, triggering a CID investigation.

As investigators began questioning legislators over the next two days, the controversy transformed from a procedural issue into a political dispute.

The signature row became a rallying point for disgruntled MLAs, triggering intense lobbying, strategy meetings and behind-the-scenes mobilisation across the state.

The crisis deepened further on May 30 when Abhishek Banerjee came under a mob attack during a visit to Sonarpur.

While political parties condemned the incident, several TMC leaders privately noted the muted response from sections of the organisation and the legislature party, seeing it as evidence of a widening disconnect between the leadership and a section of elected representatives.

By 31 May, the erosion of authority had become visible. A meeting of newly elected MLAs convened by Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence reportedly witnessed poor attendance, depriving the leadership of the show of unity it had hoped to project.

The decisive rupture came on 1 June. Hours after Adhikari publicly disclosed that the CID probe had been initiated based on complaints filed by Ritabrata and Sandipan, the TMC expelled both leaders from the party.

Instead of containing the crisis, the move accelerated the rebellion.

The expelled leaders sharpened their attack on Abhishek Banerjee, accusing him of centralising power within the organisation. Within rebel circles, the campaign soon acquired a name — “Operation Crown Prince“.

Even as the party attempted to regain control by sending fresh communications to the Speaker on 2 June regarding the legislature party leadership, support continued shifting towards the dissidents.

Finally on 3 June, a group of 59 MLAs submitted a letter to the Speaker, electing Ritabrata Banerjee as leader of the legislature party and nominating a new leadership team.

The Speaker accepted the claim, effectively recognising the rebel faction as the official legislature wing of the TMC. Minutes later, many of the same legislators attended a government review meeting convened by Adhikari at the state secretariat Nabanna.

For a rebellion that began in Delhi and gathered momentum through allegations of forged signatures, organisational resentment and a battle over succession, the final act played out inside the Assembly itself.

In just 13 days, a party built around Mamata Banerjee’s personality and political dominance witnessed the biggest rupture in its existence.

Ritabrata frequently invoked Vladimir Lenin

Not long ago, Ritabrata would invoke Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin while praising Mamata Banerjee’s political appeal, arguing that he understood the Bolshevik leader’s theories on mass politics by watching the TMC supremo work among ordinary people.

On 3 June, however, the former CPI(M) leader found himself spearheading what supporters described as a ‘legislative revolution’ against the very leader he once compared to Lenin.

Between 22 May and 3 June, West Bengal witnessed a political upheaval of its own: Less than two turbulent weeks that shook TMC, reshaped the state’s principal opposition party and altered the course of its politics.

And as things stand, Mamata Banerjee, 71, may be staring at the rapid evaporation of her status as chairperson of the third largest party in Parliament with some reports suggesting of a rebellion with the MPs as well.

TMC-versus-TMC battle

Currently, Trinamool has 42 MPs across both Houses, behind only the BJP and the Congress.

And if the MPs were to rebel, the TMC could find itself headed for an internal showdown – a TMC-versus-TMC battle reminiscent of the split that rocked the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra many years ago. The key difference, however, is that such a split would have no impact on the government in West Bengal.

In Maharashtra, the faction led by Eknath Shinde eventually came to power after breaking away from the Shiv Sena. In West Bengal, however, a similar rebellion would not alter the ruling dispensation, as the TMC is currently in the Opposition.