West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday claimed that Trinamool Congress party has been wiped out of the state and would not return to power for another 100 years.
Addressing a gathering at Gokulnagar in Nandigram on the 19th anniversary of the 2007 anti-land acquisition agitation, Adhikari recalled his prediction last year that he would return to Nandigram for the November 10 Martyrs' Day programme in 2026, but the TMC would no longer be in power.
"Last year, I had said that I would come here in 2026, but you would not find both the name and symbol of the corrupt TMC. Has my prediction not come true? Now I say the TMC will not return for the next 100 years. Write it down," he said.
"Jora Phool (twin flowers) and Ghass Phool (flower on grass) have both been uprooted. You will not see the Trinamool Congress again, not even in the next 100 years"
Adhikari, who was once a prominent TMC leader before joining the BJP in 2020, played a key role in the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram, which became a turning point in Bengal politics and contributed to the end of the Left Front's 34-year rule in 2011.
Responding to Adhikari's comments, Kunal Ghosh, the spokesperson of the Mamata-led faction of the TMC, said that while the party was fighting a "conspiracy" to snatch the name and symbol away from it, it was time for some serious introspection.
"Trinamool's name and symbol have not faded. A conspiracy is afoot to snatch the party's name and symbol from its rightful representatives. We are fighting that conspiracy, and we hope to emerge victorious. Suvendu is doing this to gratify his rage and vengeance against certain leaders of our party," Ghosh said.
"But we must also introspect why we allowed people like Suvendu Adhikari to successfully drive a wedge through our party.
Besides pointing fingers at our political adversaries, we must also delve into our mistakes," he added.
Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury interpreted Adhikari's comment as "arrogance".
"People's mandate is not any political party's 'fixed deposit'! In a democracy, the people are the ultimate holders of power. No political party is permanent. When the Congress made mistakes in the past, people rejected it; when the Left Front faltered, they voted it out; and people have also delivered their verdict on the TMC's mistakes," he said.
"No ruling party, whether the BJP or any other, can afford to become arrogant or disregard the people's mandate, however powerful it may consider itself.
India cannot be turned into an authoritarian state like China or Russia, where elections and democracy are stifled," Chowdhury said.
He stressed that history bore witness that the people of Bengal have never accepted the arrogance and high-handedness of those in power, and they would not do so in the future either.
(With inputs from PTI)
