KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress supremo and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shares a special bond with her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, the party's national general secretary and MP from Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas.
However, despite that support remaining intact, Abhishek is facing mounting criticism within the party following Trinamool Congress's crushing defeat to the BJP in the recent Assembly elections, where the party won only 80 of the state's 294 constituencies.
Mamata Banerjee has a number of nephews and nieces, being one of six brothers and two sisters. It is well known among journalists, politicians and political observers in Bengal that Mamata and Abhishek share a particularly close relationship because she believes that Abhishek, the son of her brother Amit Banerjee and his wife Lata, was the only child in the family who joined her political struggle against the CPI(M)-led Left Front government in the state.
The special bond between Mamata and Abhishek remains unabated even after the party's electoral setback, which has prompted several MLAs and MPs to rebel against him, holding him responsible for the poll debacle.
At a meeting held at her Kalighat residence a couple of weeks after the party was voted out of power, Mamata reportedly asked party legislators, including several veteran leaders, to stand and give Abhishek a standing ovation, who is widely regarded as the number two leader in the party after the supremo. The move reportedly triggered the first signs of dissent, which gradually intensified.
Months after the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, Abhishek was parachuted into the party as the leader of YUVA, a youth wing that operated parallel to the Trinamool Youth Congress, then headed by Suvendu Adhikari.
Dissent against Abhishek escalated when he was elevated as the party's 'Yuvaraj' through his leadership of the youth wing.
Several leaders met Mamata in 2013 and complained that YUVA was creating a "party within a party", but she reportedly brushed aside the concerns, calling it a "harmless youth club".
Abhishek emerged as the party's 'Yuvaraj' and was elected MP from Diamond Harbour for the first time in 2014.
Gradually, he became increasingly influential in controlling the party's organisational structure across the state.
He studied at Nava Nalanda and M.P. Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School in Kolkata before obtaining BBA and MBA degrees from the controversial Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) in New Delhi.
The New Delhi-based institute is reportedly no longer operational.
Abhishek's political style began to attract attention, particularly after his Lok Sabha victory. As a 25-year-old youth leader, he introduced a corporate approach to politics.
He marshalled cyber teams, experimented with website-driven party membership and advocated the enforcement of rigorous administrative calendars.
Following the Trinamool Congress's poor performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which it won only 12 of West Bengal's 42 seats while the BJP secured 18, Abhishek reportedly played a key role in engaging political consultancy firm I-PAC two years ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections.
The association with I-PAC marked a significant shift in Abhishek's political approach. He became leaner, regularly visited high-end fitness centres and introduced a corporate culture into the party's organisational set-up, allegedly sidelining dedicated Trinamool workers in the districts.
He reportedly admired Prashant Kishor and increasingly socialised with young industrialist friends. Party insiders say he trusted few people more than his lawyer, Sanjay Basu.
Critics within the party allege that he frequently used chartered flights between Kolkata and Delhi, spending crores of rupees at a time when the party was grappling with an unprecedented internal crisis following its humiliating electoral defeat. They also allege that he became disconnected from ordinary people.
Rebel MLAs in the state Assembly and MPs in the Lok Sabha have already spearheaded protests against the 'Yuvaraj', accusing him of being responsible for the party's defeat.
According to his critics, the post-poll chaos within the party has intensified because of Abhishek's alleged overdependence on I-PAC, which they claim rendered the party's own organisation ineffective.
They allege that he attempted to manage an old and volatile political establishment through digital surveillance and consultant-driven mechanisms.
“This tech-bro takeover required an unprecedented volume of capital, forcing the systematic bypassing of traditional funding,” said a core constituent of the Ritabrata Banerjee-led Assembly rebel bloc.
Abhishek is also facing scrutiny from multiple investigating agencies. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have served notices asking him to appear for questioning in connection with his alleged involvement in a signature forgery case involving MLAs, inflammatory speeches related to 'DJ' music and the alleged primary teachers' recruitment scam.
He has already appeared before CID investigators on three separate occasions since 11 June in connection with the signature forgery and 'DJ' music cases, while the ED has reportedly questioned him for more than 11 hours.
In one of his speeches, Abhishek allegedly said that DJ music would replace Rabindrasangeet after the 4 May election results, a comment that critics construed as a call to violence.
A case was registered after Rajib Sarkar lodged a complaint at Baguiati police station on 5 May and later approached the cybercrime department of the Bidhannagar police commissionerate, alleging that the Trinamool leader delivered inflammatory, provocative and threatening speeches.
Abhishek is also facing public anger. During a recent visit to the house of a deceased Trinamool worker in Sonarpur, South 24 Parganas, he was reportedly heckled by a mob.