TMC Abstaining From Vice President Poll is a Warning Shot for the Congress

TMC abstaining to vote over not being consulted for VP pick just shows that they don't want to be taken lightly.

(Photo: Debayan Dutta / The Quint)

The All-India Trinamool Congress have announced that they will abstain from voting in the Vice-Presidential elections slated for 6 August, sending the idea of opposition unity into a frenzy.

While many political pundits predicted that the party will not support the opposition candidate Margaret Alva after the party previously announced that they will come to a decision on 21 July.

On 17 July, the opposition had announced that they will field former Rajasthan governor Margaret Alva as their joint candidate against NDA’s choice pick of West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar, for the post of Vice-President.

On 21 July, AITC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee in a press conference announced that the TMC would abstain from voting because while it can’t support the NDA candidate because of ideological differences, it does not agree with the way the opposition candidate was selected without keeping the TMC in loop.

We disagree with the process of announcing the Opposition candidate without keeping TMC in the loop. We were neither consulted nor was anything discussed with us. So, we can’t support the Opposition nominee.

Abhishek Banerjee, AITC National General Secretary

This broadly means two things when it comes to the larger picture of the TMC’s national ambit – that the TMC doesn’t want to be taken for granted, and that the opposition still has a long way to go when it comes to putting up a united front.

The Trinamool Isn't to be Taken Lightly

When Mamata Banerjee at the Shahid Dibas event said that she envisions “one courageous, cultural, secular and ideal party in India, and that will be Trinamool Congress,” she meant every word of it.

The move to not support the opposition candidate is a warning shot fired by the TMC at opposition parties, specifically the Congress to not take the party lightly.

In fact, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’ Brien in an interview to NDTV said so in as many words: “Don’t take the TMC for granted”.

Initially, it was said that Congress had called a meeting, and then the venue was shifted to NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s residence. A senior politician reached out to Mamata Banerjee but only after the meeting... this is not the way.

Abhishek Banerjee, AITC National General Secretary

While many opposition leaders have claimed that Mamata Banerjee was contacted and consulted by Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar, and that Banerjee had agreed to support whoever the opposition pick is, the TMC says otherwise.

The TMC has been trying to project itself as a non-Congress alternative to the opposition and would thus want to throw their weight around. Mamata Banerjee was instrumental in calling for a united front to field a Presidential candidate and facilitated the proceedings.

Banerjee said that the party had suggested a few names for Vice-Presidential candidate, but they were not considered.

So, the TMC expects not only to be taken seriously in the opposition space but to also throw its weight around. They are trying to establish their own space in the opposition battle, a space where they are not playing second fiddle to Congress on a national front.

When Abhishek Banerjee said that they are open to discussions with like-minded parties, what he really meant was that he wanted like-minded parties to approach them and not the Congress.

Mamata Banerjee is wise enough to acknowledge that no united opposition front can be complete without the Congress but might just be trying their luck to strong-arm the grand old party into a post-poll alliance in 2024, rather than a pre-poll alliance – one where the regional parties (read: TMC) will be deciding the stakes of the offer.

TMC to Congress after 2024 General Elections (Hypothetically)

(Photo: Movie Screengrab)

Opposition Unity Remains a Myth

TMC’s move can very easily send the idea of a united opposition front into a frenzy. What was building up to be a united opposition platform with the Presidential elections is now weakening.

But picture abhi baaki hai mere dost.

Opposition unity is not dependent on Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections. If you are really interested in Opposition unity, you must rise above ego and self-interest. You can have Opposition unity through joint programmes on issues concerning the masses. But we need to change our approach.

Abhishek Banerjee, AITC National General Secretary

Since TMC was instrumental when it came to the opposition pick in the Presidential elections, they expected the Congress or other opposition parties were to take the initiative and approach the TMC, which allegedly didn’t go as planned.

There are still several cracks in a united opposition front, which will take time to fix. Most parties, while sharing a common goal to defeat the BJP, also have their own self-interests at hand, which need to be ironed out before they can work together. And then there’s the debate of where the Congress fits in.

What remains to be seen is where do the opposition parties go from here, and what role does the TMC play in this opposition space. The TMC kept maintaining that they are not opposed to the idea of opposition unity and that this does not spoil the opposition equation, they were only against the process of selecting the candidate.