The All India Trinamool Congress is facing deep internal turmoil as voices rise against party chief Mamata Banerjee following its electoral defeat in West Bengal.
The loyal heads that once remained bowed and the voices that stayed silent in awe before Banerjee are now rising loudly against what they describe as unbearable and putrefied rot within the party under her leadership.
She is not just crestfallen after facing a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP in West Bengal and losing both the seats she contested, but is also witnessing palpable public anger and resentment against her and her party, akin to an outburst against what critics call a whimsical, arrogant, brutal, and corrupt regime. The party is now simmering with internal turmoil as several leaders, including former MLAs and ministers, are not just resigning but also openly criticising the leadership following the poll debacle.
Filmmaker and former MLA Raj Chakraborty has announced his retirement from politics, stating that electoral politics was not meant for him. He entered politics in 2021 and won the Assembly election as a TMC nominee but was defeated this time by a BJP candidate.
But Banerjee remains defiant and appears to be in a state of denial, neither willing to accept the people’s mandate nor ready to resign as Chief Minister to uphold constitutional conventions, despite the Assembly having technically ceased to exist following its dissolution by the Governor.
“It looks like a repeat of Indira Gandhi. Sometimes I feel that we are witnessing Indira Gandhi Part Two. Indira Gandhi was not ready to resign even after the Allahabad High Court had set aside her election on charges of electoral malpractice. Here too, the people’s court has rejected Mamata Banerjee and her party, but she is not ready to accept the verdict.
Indira Gandhi had Sanjay Gandhi, who became a reason for her downfall, and Mamata Banerjee has her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who may lead her towards political destruction. She has surpassed Indira Gandhi in terms of unpopularity. I have never seen such an unpopular Chief Minister, a politician so widely disliked,” said Balram Thakur, a resident of West Bengal.
Also read: Suvendu Adhikari named Bengal’s first BJP CM
But others seem to be realising that her whims and bellicosity are now overused, ineffective, and exhausted. People are not content with merely throwing her and her coterie out of power; they want justice for what they suffered under TMC rule. TMC MP Dev congratulated the BJP on receiving the mandate to form the new government in West Bengal and said he sincerely hoped the government would work towards the progress, peace, and development of the state while ensuring that people’s voices are heard.
While Dev accepted the people’s mandate, Banerjee is still questioning the result, calling it an organised loot of votes by the BJP. “She is displaying her old street-fighter character. She has been a street fighter throughout her political career, and she rose to power through street politics. But things have changed. This is 2026. This time, people responded against her through the ballot box, and now they have also taken to the streets against her,” said young poet and author Rupesh.
Rupesh said that after her defeat, Banerjee started calling herself a free bird, but she has forgotten that there are no branches left for her to perch on. In this election, the BJP’s vote share rose sharply to 45.8 per cent from about 38 per cent in 2021, whereas the TMC’s vote share nosedived to 40.8 per cent from nearly 48 per cent.
Former minister Rabindranath Ghosh, a senior party functionary from Cooch Behar who was denied a ticket in the recent Assembly election, claimed that the party had split into two factions: one led by “Didi” (Banerjee) and the other by Abhishek Banerjee. He alleged that Abhishek pressured her and prevented her from making independent decisions.
Party leaders now admit that the TMC’s misrule in West Bengal was not merely poor but had reached its lowest ebb, and that public anger against the regime was neither artificial nor manufactured.
Manoj Tiwary, former cricketer and ex-minister who represented Shibpur and won in 2021 but was denied a ticket in 2026, also attacked the leadership and former sports minister Aroop Biswas. In an online video, Tiwary alleged that development initiatives in Howrah were deliberately obstructed due to factional politics and insecurity within the party.
TMC spokesperson Riju Dutta expressed frustration with the leadership after his family was allegedly attacked by BJP supporters. In a social media video, Dutta apologised for personally attacking Suvendu Adhikari during the elections, stating that “99% of the comments made by me were not my own. I did it under the party’s instructions.”
Another blow came when Sujoy Chakraborty, former chairman of the Board of Administrators of the Howrah Municipal Corporation, resigned. He accused Abhishek Banerjee of pressuring him to resign from his civic post last year because he refused to collect money from contractors and businessmen for the party fund.
Two days after the TMC suffered a humiliating defeat, Banerjee called an emergency meeting of her newly elected MLAs. At least 10 MLAs skipped the meeting, including Byron Biswas.
The developments underline a deepening crisis within the party as it grapples with electoral defeat and mounting dissent.
By Vijay Deo Jha
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