New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) token presence — in the form of the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Mausam Benazir Noor — at the INDIA bloc’s protest Friday against the suspension of 146 Opposition MPs at Jantar Mantar in Delhi has raised eyebrows in political circles.
The absence of prominent TMC faces at the protest stood out in stark contrast to the presence of top leaders of other constituents of the INDIA bloc, which was formed in July to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections through seat-sharing, a common minimum agenda and joint campaigns.
It also comes against the backdrop of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee landing the Congress leadership in a spot at Tuesday’s INDIA meeting by proposing that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge be made the convenor of the alliance, or declared as its prime ministerial candidate.
A day later, Banerjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi over unpaid dues to West Bengal under various central schemes.
While a delegation of nine TMC MPs accompanied Banerjee for the meeting, ThePrint has learnt that Modi and Banerjee also had a separate one-on-one interaction there.
Speaking to ThePrint, a TMC leader said that since the MPs were not instructed by the party leadership to stay back to attend the INDIA bloc’s protest, most left for West Bengal Wednesday and Thursday, when the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die.
“The TMC made it clear at the 19 December (Tuesday) meeting of the INDIA bloc that without seat-sharing, this alliance has no meaning. In fact, even at the meeting, despite being present along with (TMC general secretary) Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee let TMC’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien do the talking,” the leader said.
“That she is not very enthused with the alliance and TMC-Congress ties are frosty again is very evident,” the leader added.
Emerging from her meeting with Modi, Banerjee had told the media that the PM gave the TMC delegation a patient hearing and promised to set up committees comprising state and central officials to resolve the issues.
That is where she also said that had Congress leader Rahul Gandhi not shot the video of TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee mimicking Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, “you would not even have known (about it)”.
Incidentally, while Kalyan Banerjee was also among those supposed to accompany the TMC chief to meet the PM, he was later asked to skip the meeting, citing the presence of too many leaders in the delegation.
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‘BJP MPs were scared out of their wits’
At Jantar Mantar Friday, the TMC was represented by Noor, a relative lightweight in the party hierarchy.
In her brief speech, Noor appealed to the people to defeat the BJP in the 2024 general elections.
On the other hand, most other parties of the INDIA bloc, such as the Congress, CPM, CPI, Nationalist Congress Party, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, deputed their top leaders to attend the protest.
In his speech, Gandhi took a swipe at the BJP, saying that when the Lok Sabha was breached by two youths last week “BJP MPs were scared out of their wits”.
“Yes, it was a security breach. If they could smuggle in smoke canisters, they could have taken in gas cylinders also. But the second question is, why did they protest? The reason is severe unemployment among youth in the country,” Gandhi said, claiming that a survey had found that an average Indian youth “spent around 7.5 hours a day” scrolling through Instagram and other social media websites.
“Because they are unemployed, have no jobs. They are left to browse social media,” he asserted.
Speaking after Gandhi, Kharge said the INDIA coalition had been formed to safeguard Indian democracy and the Constitution, while taking a veiled jibe at Dhankhar.
“Those holding constitutional posts say that he is being insulted as he belongs to a certain caste. A person who has taken a constitutional oath says such things. If that is the case, what will happen to a Dalit like me? When I wanted to raise issues of farmers, Dalits, women, I was not allowed to do so. Should I then say that I was prevented from speaking in the House due to my Dalit identity?” Kharge asked.
Responding to Kalyan Banerjee’s mimicry of him in the presence of a large number of suspended MPs outside the House chambers, Dhankhar had said Tuesday that the TMC MP’s act “did not just insult a farmer or a community, it was disrespectful to the post of the Rajya Sabha chairman as well”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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