They say that when words fail, music speaks, and the best way to describe the TMC-Suvendu Adhikari saga is through a song from Albela (1951) which goes like, “O Beta Ji, Kismat Ki Hawa Kabhi Garam, Kabhi Naram” – now popularised by the recent film Ludo.
Adhikari tendered his resignation as a member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) a day after tendering his resignation from the Legislative Assembly, amid rumours that he will be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit on 19 December, along with a few other disgruntled party leaders, like Jitendra Tiwari, Silbhadra Dutta and Sunil Mondal.
But what changed between Adhikari’s meeting with TMC bigwig Saugata Roy on 1 December, where the latter claimed “all outstanding issues were sorted out”, to him resigning from all posts?
First, a Quick Flashback
Adhikari had been holding independent rallies outside the TMC banner and resigned from his post as West Bengal’s transport minister on 27 November. The leader, who was instrumental in the Nandigram anti-land acquisition protests, was not happy with political strategist Prashant Kishor and Abhishek Banerjee, because he felt he was being sidelined in the party.
The party had tried to negotiate with him to stop him from jumping ship and the results were evident in his rallies, where his swipes against the party’s top brass had mellowed down for a while.
But while the two-hour-long meeting with Roy and Kishor might have been seen as a sigh of relief for the party, it all came crumbling down thereafter.
It Ended With... A Text Message?
Adhikari sent a WhatsApp message to Roy shortly after their meeting expressing his “discomfort”. The text read:
“My issues have not been resolved and conclusions are being drawn regardless. I was supposed to hold a press conference on 6 December where I would’ve given my opinion on the issues. But you informed the press before that. It will be difficult for us to work together. Please forgive me.”
While the highly anticipated press conference never happened, the WhatsApp message seemed to be the deal-breaker between the TMC and Adhikari. Roy told ANI that the party had decided “not to speak to him anymore” after the text message.
He further added that Adhikari “wanted to be the leader after Mamata Banerjee. Suvendu Adhikari wanted control of 5-6 districts which wasn't possible.”
“Suvendu Adhikari has betrayed the party.”Saugata Roy, TMC MP
War of Words
By then, Adhikari had already donned a new avatar – “son of Bengal” and “son of India.”
West Bengal CM Banerjee, in an online meeting with TMC’s top brass, said that party leaders who are in touch with the Opposition are free to quit rather than weaken the party from the inside.
“If anyone wants to go, I have no problem. Those who quit the party due to fear of (central) agencies, I personally dislike them.”Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Minister
She further accused the BJP, who she has been often referring to as “an outsider organisation,” of “attacking the party.”
Banerjee held a rally at Midnapore, Adhikari’s bastion, and had reportedly invited all the TMC MLAs from the region. Adhikari and his loyalists chose to skip the meeting.
“All TMC MLAs of West Midnapore are present here today. I want to tell those who spread canards against TMC leaders, that we are the most honest party. We are not like the BJP, which is using its moneybags to dislodge Opposition-run governments in states and trying to break Opposition parties.”Mamata Banerjee at Midnapore
And thus the war of words, which seemed to have mellowed down previously, flared up again.
Adhikari went all guns blazing against the TMC at his rally in Midnapore. Replying to rumours that his departure would be of “little to no consequence,” he said:
“The Suvendu family is not of just 5-7 people. My family is every village of Bengal who eat plain fermented rice. I want to reiterate that all these attacks cannot deter me,”Suvendu Adhikari, TMC MLA
Echoing a hymn similar to the BJP, he criticised the TMC on fueling Bengali sentiments by saying, “we are Indian first and then Bengali” and later against TMC’s “outsider” tactic against the BJP.
He further went on to slam the party’s functioning by calling it a “party-cracy” where “the state is being run according to the wishes of the party.”
“Democracy has to be reinstated. Democracy cannot be for the party, by the party, of the party. I want to tell them that I will stand by people for the people and with the people.”Suvendu Adhikari, TMC MLA
Undeterred from her goal to stop the BJP, Banerjee’s attacks kept coming.
“Imagine the audacity of the BJP leaders, they are calling up the state president of TMC and asking him to join the saffron camp. The BJP doesn’t have any ideology or political courtesy. They are using money bags, and some opportunists who only work for their own benefit are joining them. We will not let them win.”Mamata Banerjee at Cooch Behar
Saradha, Security and (Not So) Secret Meetings
Before tendering his resignation, Adhikari had claimed that he was “attacked 11 times” after which he was given Z-category security from the Centre.
He even wrote to the CBI stating that jailed Saradha chief Sudipta Sen had accused him falsely in the chit fund scam. This letter, which was written on the first week of December to PM Modi, also included the name of now BJP leader Mukul Roy about making poor investments.
On Adhikari’s 50th birthday, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya called to wish him on 15 December.
Furthermore, after tendering his resignation from the Legislative Assembly. Adhikari said that the WB state police might “implicate him in false cases” owing to his “changed political state.” He even wrote to the governor stating the same.
Should TMC Be Worried?
Coming back to Adhikari leaving having “little to no consequence,” on Wednesday, he met disgruntled Pandabeswar MLA Jitendra Tiwari and Purba Burdwan MP Sunil Mondal at Mondal’s residence. which also saw the presence of Col Diptangshu Chowdhury, chairman of South Bengal State Transport Corporation, and Nityananda Chattopadhyay, councillor of Guskara municipality.
Following that, five TMC leaders from Malda, too, tendered their resignation while Tiwari resigned as mayor of Asansol.
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