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COVER STORY SEPTEMBER 25, 2026 | The Indian Eye 5

Electoral politics does not move decision within a wider opposition
in straight lines. Leaders who suffer strategy rather than treating it mere-
major setbacks can recover, while ly as a response to the withdrawal of
organisational crises can sometimes her candidate.
produce new political configurations. The development could also re-
The more immediate question is open questions about opposition co-
whether Mamata can retain the po- ordination in Bengal. Congress and
litical network, voter base and organ- the TMC have had a complicated
isational machinery that enabled the relationship, particularly at the state
TMC to dominate Bengal for years. level, despite their broader associa-
The numbers from the 2026 As- tion with the Opposition nationally.
sembly election underline the scale Nandigram now provides an unusual
of the challenge. Published results example of tactical support between
show the BJP winning 207 of the 294 the two.
Assembly seats, while the TMC won For the BJP, meanwhile, the de-
80. The result marked a dramatic velopments offer an opportunity to
change from 2021, when the TMC consolidate the political momentum
had won 215 seats and the BJP 77. generated by its 2026 Assembly vic-
That electoral reversal has now tory. The party already controls the
been followed by an organisational state government, with Adhikari at
split. the centre of Bengal’s new political
The rival factions have both TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee during the Trinomool Congress Chhatra Parishad foundation day landscape. A weakened and divided
claimed to represent the legitimate TMC would fundamentally alter the
Trinamool Congress. The dispute be- program at Cathedral Road, in Kolkata on Friday. (ANI Photo) nature of the state’s Opposition pol-
fore the Election Commission is not itics.
simply about a name or symbol; it is mission, party symbols and the in- The rebellion involving a size- But politics in Bengal has histor-
fundamentally about organisational stitutional management of internal able group of elected legislators ically produced surprises.
control and political legitimacy. The political disputes. makes that question particularly im- Mamata Banerjee built the TMC
Commission’s interim arrangement But for Mamata, the more im- portant. The rival faction has sought by challenging an entrenched po-
is intended to prevent confusion in mediate challenge is organisational. to establish itself as the legitimate litical establishment and eventually
the upcoming by-elections while the The TMC has historically been political successor to the original dislodged the Left Front after more
larger dispute remains unresolved. unusually leader-centric. Mamata’s TMC structure, turning an electoral than three decades in power. She
Mamata has responded to the personal appeal, her direct connec- dispute into a struggle over the par- then successfully resisted the BJP’s
decision with characteristic political tion with grassroots workers and the ty’s institutional inheritance. rapid expansion for years before the
aggression. She described the freez- party’s distinctive electoral identity At the same time, Mamata’s de- dramatic shift in 2026.
ing of the party’s traditional name have been major components of its cision to back Congress in Nandigram The question now is not simply
and symbol as unconstitutional, ille- political structure. A factional chal- and Assam’s Nagaon Lok Sabha seat whether Mamata can win another
gal and undemocratic, and accused lenge therefore creates questions shows that she is prepared to use po- election. It is whether she can rebuild
the central establishment of political about how much of the organisation litical flexibility when circumstances a political organisation around a new
vendetta. She also compared the sit- remains personally loyal to her and demand it. Her statement that the identity while defending her claim to
uation with the disputes involving the how much can be transferred to a ri- move was being made “for the great- the TMC’s legacy.
Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Con- val leadership. er interest of the nation” places the The October 6 by-elections in
gress Party. Nandigram and Rejinagar will pro-
Her response has another im- vide an early indication of how the
portant dimension: the attempt to new political arrangement functions
turn an organisational setback into a on the ground. But they will not, by
larger political narrative. themselves, settle the larger leader-
By accusing the Centre and the ship dispute.
BJP of targeting opposition parties, For now, Mamata is facing per-
Mamata is seeking to shift the de- haps the most serious organisational
bate from the internal TMC dispute and electoral challenge of her polit-
to the broader question of democrat- ical career. The loss of the familiar
ic institutions and opposition politics. party identity, the Nandigram set-
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has back and the factional battle have
similarly criticised the Election Com- created vulnerabilities that did not
mission’s action and alleged that the exist in the same form before.
BJP and the poll panel were working Whether this represents the
together to weaken opposition par- closing chapter of the Mamata era,
ties. however, remains a political ques-
The BJP has rejected those alle- tion that only Bengal’s voters and the
gations. Its spokesperson Sudhanshu unfolding organisational battle can
Trivedi argued that the TMC itself answer. What is clear is that the po-
emerged from a split in the Congress litical landscape she once dominated
and criticised Gandhi’s interpreta- has changed profoundly — and she
tion of the developments. now faces the task of rebuilding her
The dispute is thus becoming Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addresses a press conference, in Kolkata on Wednesday. position in a Bengal where the old
part of a larger national political West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari was also present (ANI Photo) TMC order no longer exists in the
argument over the Election Com- same form.

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