The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is facing internal tensions in the Jungle Mahal region of south Bengal, partly due to Chhatradhar Mahato, a key figure in the Maoist-backed Lalgarh movement during the final years of the CPI(M) government. After being acquitted in an NIA case, Mahato has reactivated his old network in the area.
Mahato, who is now a TMC state committee member, and his followers, who were once part of the CPI(Maoist), have started organising political events, challenging the faction led by state forest minister Birbaha Hansda and TMC’s Jhargram district head Dulal Mumrmu.
TMC sources have acknowledged that this division within the party could lead to an organisational crisis before the 2026 Assembly elections in Jungle Mahal, a region where the BJP has gained significant strength since 2019. In the 2019 general elections, the BJP won all six seats in Jungle Mahal and secured five of them in 2024.
Mahato was released on bail in 2020 after being arrested by the state police a decade earlier. He later joined the TMC. However, after the 2021 Assembly elections, he was arrested by the NIA in connection with the 2009 Rajdhani Express hijack case, though he was acquitted in November of the previous year.
A TMC leader explained that the party’s internal rift is fueled by rivalry between the kurmi and tribal communities in Jungle Mahal. Mahato is a kurmi, while Hansda and Murmu belong to the tribal community. The party needs to manage Mahato’s political activities carefully to avoid further division between these communities.
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Mahato had played a crucial role in the Lalgarh movement, supported by Maoists, which lasted from 2008 to 2011, until the death of Maoist leader Kishanji in October 2011, shortly after Mamata Banerjee came to power.
The rift within the TMC became more visible on Sunday when Mahato organised a large rally in Lalgarh to honor three "martyrs" who were allegedly killed by CPI(M) supporters. Around 5,000 people attended the event, which took place at the same location where Mamata had held her first rally in Lalgarh.
Mahato used the occasion to make a political statement, emphasising his position as the leading figure in the kurmi-dominated area, excluding Birbaha and Murmu from the event.
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