All is not well within the TMC. According to reports, there is an ongoing internal feud within the TMC which have led to frequent attacks between the rival factions. Various media reports have indicated that blasts in many TMC offices in the last few months are results of this internal feud. Just few days ago, TMC party workers clashed with each other, one TMC cadre attacked other party member with sharp weapons. On the day of Bengal Bandh, many TMC party workers prepared a plot to kill Trinamool worker Subir Sasmal.
The arrest of seven known TMC supporters in connection with the explosion at TMC office in Birbhum’s Kankartala on Monday further cements the reports of rift within the TMC.
Similar incident of bomb explosion happened in August as well at TMC office in West Midnapore, West Bengal. The blast claimed one life and five other people suffered serious injuries. Various media reports including national media pointed out that internal feud was one of the probable reason for the blast.
In the Bengal Panchayat Polls, independent candidates secured victory over 1,900 seats and arose to be third highest after the Trinamool Congress and the BJP. A large number of these winner candidates are rebels from within the TMC.
A Sunday Guardian report claims that a rebellion may be brewing within Mamata’s fiefdom. It has come to light that many top TMC leaders are keen to join the BJP but are not able to do so as they feel that the West Bengal BJP leadership won’t be able to protect them against Mamata’s fury. This has come from sources within both the BJP and the TMC. The apprehension of the TMC leaders is well founded. We have seen a glimpse of what Mamata Banerjee can do if her hegemony is challenged in any way. During the Panchayat polls earlier this year, she had given a free run to her party hooligans in the state so that she could secure an easy victory in face of a rising BJP in West Bengal.
Recently, TMC Assam unit chief Dipen Pathak and two other state leaders resigned from the TMC owing to irreconcilable difference with Mamata Banerjee over the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC).
In the month of June, former TMC minister Humayun Kabir also joined the BJP. Earlier, one of the founding members of TMC- Mukul Roy– had also joined the BJP. Overall, there is a decisive shift in West Bengal in the BJP’s favour.
Now, with the latest explosion at a TMC office, the party has pointed finger against the RSS for it while the precedents point towards a trend of infighting resulting in frequent targeting of other factions within the party. TMC, through its propaganda machinery, is desperately trying to prove that everything is well within the TMC and the RSS is responsible for all the wrong things that are happening in West Bengal. TMC is also desperately trying to ignore the fact that its cadre has become way too violent for its own good and now they are out of Mamata’s control. The latest bomb explosion at a TMC office seems more like a result of the TMC infighting and the work of its out of control cadre than perpetrated by any other organization.