The story unfolding in West Bengal is not only one of a party split. It is also about the rare near-isolation of a founder within the very organisation she created. The shape of things to come became apparent on Sunday, when 60 of Trinamool Congress’s 80 MLAs did not turn up for a meeting called at Mamata Banerjee’s house. The official turning point came on Wednesday when expelled rebel MLA Ritabrata Banerjee secured recognition from the Speaker as Leader of the Opposition after presenting proof of support from 58 party MLAs; he claimed the signatures of two more legislators would follow. The move effectively transfers control of the party’s legislative wing to the rebel camp, which has requested Mamata to be its ‘chief advisor’. Her loneliness is all the more conspicuous because, having lost her seat, she cannot even enter the House she once presided over.
For nearly three decades, Mamata was the most powerful force in Bengal politics. She broke from the Congress, founded the Trinamool Congress, demolished the Left Front’s seemingly impregnable fortress, and built a political machine so closely identified with her personality that the party and its leader became virtually indistinguishable. Today, that equation lies shattered.
This rebellion stands apart from earlier ones. Leaders have previously been challenged, weakened, even overthrown. But rebels rarely appropriate parties to leave their founder on the margins. Sharad Pawar’s loss of control over the NCP offered one such example, while the split in the Shiv Sena left Uddhav Thackeray battling a rival faction for ownership of the party’s organisation and legacy. The AIADMK, too, has struggled to retain its coherence after Jayalalithaa’s death, with power dispersed among competing centres rather than residing in a single, undisputed leadership. What is unfolding in West Bengal is not merely a revolt against a leader but an attempt to take control of the organisation she built and redefine it without her.
Regional parties built around charismatic individuals often appear invincible while winning elections. But success conceals organisational weakness. Internal democracy is deemed unnecessary, while succession planning often creates bitterness among some. There is, so far, nothing to suggest that external influence encouraged the “split” in Bengal. Trinamool’s unravelling has been sudden and brutal because the party was never allowed to exist independent of its supreme leader. Mamata can hardly blame her enemies, because she is being undone by those who once owed their careers to her.