Mahila Congress Chief Sushmita Dev Quits Party, Joins TMC; What Led to This?

There's one immediate trigger and another long term factor that led to Sushmita Dev's decision to quit the Congress.

All India Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev resigned from the Party on Sunday, 15 August. She joined the All India Trinamool Congress in the presence of party leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien on Monday.

She announced her resignation in a short letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.

"Please treat this as my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress. I cherish my three-decades long association with the Indian National Congress. May I take this opportunity to thank the Party, all its leaders, members and workers who have been part of my memorable journey," she wrote in her letter.

"Madam, I thank you personally for your guidance and the opportunities you gave me," she further added.

Dev's exit has surprised many in the Congress as she was known to be a staunch Rahul Gandhi loyalist. She was extremely proactive as the head of the Mahila Congress and led a number of protests on women's issues.

SO WHAT LED TO HER EXIT?

There is an immediate trigger and a long-term trigger that led to Dev deciding to leave the Congress.

The Immediate Trigger – Party Denied Making Her Tripura In-Charge

Dev was extremely keen on becoming the party's in-charge for Tripura and resigning as Mahila Congress chief. Since Tripura is adjacent to the part of Assam she hails from and has a Bengali Hindu majority, Dev has a good understanding of the state.

However, the party did not act upon her request. Sources close to Dev revealed that despite her requests, she got a cold response from General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal.

This appointment meant a lot for Dev since she was feeling marginalised in her area of influence – Assam's Barak Valley. This brings us to the long-term factor behind her exit.

LONG-TERM DECLINE OF CONGRESS IN THE BARAK VALLEY

During the Assam elections, Congress took a firm stand against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in order to tap into the anti-CAA sentiment in the Brahmaputra Valley. But the sentiment in the Barak Valley, where Dev hails from, was entirely in favour of the CAA as many immigrants from East Bengal are settled there.

In fact, Dev's father and senior Congress leader – Late Santosh Mohan Dev – played an instrumental role in settling Bengali Hindu immigrants in the Barak Valley. He subsequently became a strong leader among this demographic. He represented Silchar five times in the Lok Sabha and Sushmita herself won from the seat as well in 2014, in what was otherwise a bad election for the Congress.

However, the BJP, which was already powerful in the Barak Valley, further strengthened its base with the CAA. The anti-CAA stand of the Congress harmed Sushmita Dev's base there.

When top Congress leaders sported anti-CAA gamosas during their rally in Sibsagar, Sushmita Dev is said to have declined as it would been politically embarrassing for her.

Then she was also not entirely in favour of the party's alliance with Badruddin Ajmal's All India United Democratic Front.

Even during ticket selection, Dev had issues with the party's choices, especially in a couple of seats in Cachar district.

Her main concern was the alienation of Bengali-speaking Hindus from the Congress despite them having been a stable base for many decades.

"This section acted as a buffer for the Congress even Assamese-speaking voters ditched the party or when Muslims moved to Ajmal. The party shouldn't have alienated this section," a supporter of Dev based near Silchar said.

The writing was on the wall for Dev. The Mahila Congress position did give her a national profile, but it was of no use to her politically as her base had declined where it mattered most to her. Her requests to be made the in-charge for Tripura not being heeded was the last straw.

WHY TMC?

Sushmita Dev has a good equation with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is himself from a Congress background.

Given her position in favour of the CAA, joining BJP would have also made sense. But the BJP already has too many competing leaders in the Barak Valley, many of whom are from a strong RSS and pro-Hindutva background. Given such a scene, it would not have been easy for her to gain prominence especially after her electoral defeat from Silchar in 2019.

This is where the TMC came into the picture. The party is trying to expand its base in the Northeast, specifically in Tripura and Assam.

Dev is likely to become a prominent face of the TMC in the region. In fact, her immediate area of focus is likely to be Tripura and not Assam.

The TMC is even considering making her a key face in the state, which goes to polls in early 2023.

RIPPLE EFFECT IN CONGRESS

The fact that the head of an important frontal quit the Congress in such circumstances is no doubt embarrassing for the party. It is likely to raise questions on the functioning of the party high command.

Venugopal, in particular, could face some scrutiny, as dealing with frontal organisations and state units falls under his domain.

Kapil Sibal, one of the 23 leaders who wrote a letter to the Congress president expressing concerns on the state of affairs in the party, tweeted taking a dig at the party.

"Sushmita Dev. Resigns from primary membership of our Party. While young leaders leave we ‘oldies’ are blamed for our efforts to strengthen it. The Party moves on with : Eyes Wide Shut," he tweeted.

Unfortunately for the Congress, Dev's exit and reactions such as Sibal's would take attention away from Sonia Gandhi's oped piece in a national daily, which was an important development for the party.

Meanwhile the party's crisis in Assam is even more serious. Dev's exit comes after two of its MLAs from Upper Assam defected to the BJP. The Congress now faces the prospect of decline in Upper Assam as well as among the Hindus of Barak Valley.