Subal Bhowmik could not take the Trinamool Congress to the grass root in Tripura and failed to attain the expected results in By-polls”, so said party’s in charge Rajib Banerjee on Wednesday after removal of Bhowmik from the state unit’s president’s post.
“It appeared that there was a gap in expanding the party organization. It seemed that those who were given responsibilities of the organization might have failed to discharge their duties accordingly. So, the TMC leadership has decided to go for a new beginning in Tripura”, said Banerjee.
Now, going by the statements of Banerjee in the press conference Trinamool Congress’ visiting leaders from outside are going to take the rein of the party- or whatever is left of it- in the state.
In extension of what the Trinamool Congress leader said, the party is also passing through the ‘experiment’ phase in Tripura and as such Bhowmik was a mere guineapig in the experiment.
Banerjee said, an efficient, experienced and committed person would soon be appointed as the party’s state president. But the party profile would not really throw any such face, at least at this moment. So, come here the West Bengal leaders to play their chosen role.
Though the entire responsibility was thrown upon Bhowmik for the party’s failure in the state, Banerjee who was in charge of Tripura, and also Sushmita Dev who was running the show from the fore front, escaped unscathed—they were not held responsible in the discussions that, according to Banerjee, took place at various levels both in Tripura and also in West Bengal.
Fact is, the Trinamool Congress miserably failed to understand Tripura politics, its dynamics, people’s sentiment and aspirations and was wholly misguided by farcical survey of the I-Pac – that all led to the complete drubbing of the party in the elections. They might have set Subal Bhowmik , a local , in the state unit’s president position just before the by polls -on April 29- but the entire elections strategy and campaign roadmap were run by West Bengal leaders- some of whom were already discredited and had their jail stint and some were actor, actress turned politicians. In reality, they were not at all taken seriously by the electors, at least when after the local bodies’ elections -(then Trinamool Congress got some initial support since neither Congress and nor CPM was a force to reckon with) – it became clear that Trinamool Congress was fully dependent on Kolkata and their visiting leaders. They overshadowed the local leadership and the whole exercise looked like a franchisee politics.
In the past Mamata Banerjee herself never espoused much interest in Tripura politics and never took up Tripura cause while in Delhi as a Parliamentarian and also as a minister—not even a single day she spoke about Tripura in the Parliament or outside about the relentless manslaughters, arson, kidnapping that took place in Tripura by the militants at everyday basis and the state bled white. She did nothing for Tripura.
Yet, this time the Trinamool Congress coined the slogan that they had taken for West Bengal – Tripura Didikei Chay (Tripura wants Didi). How, the party could assess this sentiment of the people of Tripura should be left to anybody’s guess.
Trinamool Congress first blunder was to replicate the West Bengal model here and also to attempt to sail through by imposing the West Bengal sentiment in Tripura. It was a matter of sheer arrogant stupidity to think that Tripura people would follow whatever Mamata Banerjee or her party would say for the state from a ‘holier than thou premise’. That was a tall call and demeaning for the for the people of the state–this was not lost with the electors. She was and is definitely a leader of West Bengal, but how come Trinamool Congress could conclude that she would be Tripura’s leader too—at least as far as state politics was concerned?
Besides, in the past also she had ditched Tripura leaders who joined her – Sudhir Ranjan Majumdar, Ratan Chakrabarty, Surajit Datta, Arun Chandra Bhowmik. et al Or for that matter in very recent past Asish Lal Singha. So, in a sense the action against Subal Bhowmik, another scapegoat for her West Bengal colleagues’ utter failure should not come as surprise.
Mamata Banerjee in her not-so-hidden aspiration for Prime Minister’s position needed national footprint for her party and she thought Tripura would be an easy place. But she misread it. Neither , here she could play the Muslim cards -due to absence of decisive Muslim votes, nor she had a credible local leadership. She got some politicians, if not leaders , who could not do much in other parties and were always in search of greener pasture , and some so called writers or intellectuals who were more interested in Kolkata connections and shoulder rubbing for their own personal interest.
This time, however, as the axe came grinding, it was also to an extent Bhowmik’s own making. Always in a hurry for the top post , his impatience and intolerance of other comrades in arms always kept him unsettled and unsatisfied. He kept on switching parties one after another and thus losing credibility to the point of no return. Now, no political party would take him seriously.
This time too as soon as the by poll results were declared and it became amply clear Trinamool Congress would have no future –at least for the next few years- Bhowmik became again unsettled and uncertain about his future. He stopped all political activities for the Trinamool Congress. As the central agencies started hunting and picking up Trinamool Congress leaders in Weste Bengal itself for rampant corruptions and put the party’s future at stake there itself, Bhowmik knew it was time again to jump out of the sinking ship. And then there came the reports that he was pulling strings to return to the BJP as its prodigal son.
Trinamool Congress well aware of his past as a fly by night politician did not take chance and felt it prudent to remove him from the president’s position forthwith. After all only recently Baptu Chakrabarty , their general secretary gave them a shock.
So, here he is- Subal Bhowmik – back to square one. And, an end to the franchisee politics of the Trinamool Congress, at least for the next few years. In the meantime, some political tourists may like to drop in before the assembly elections, if the situation in West Bengal permits, but there will not be much left to talk about or write about Trinamool Congress in Tripura.
