Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the BJP as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) continued to reel under its worst organisational crisis since its formation, with a series of senior leaders resigning, defecting or joining the rival faction led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee.
Addressing party workers during a Facebook Live interaction, the former West Bengal chief minister accused the BJP of using police and central agencies to engineer defections, apologised to the people "on behalf of the traitors", and firmly backed her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, saying he did not give in to intimidation and has been fighting like a tiger.
"Today Abhishek is very bad for you (rebel TMC leaders). You don’t remember that his wife went to CBI with their children. He could have done setting and got relief. If he did any mistake he overcame it because he is fighting like a tiger," Mamata said.
Her remarks came hours after senior party leader and a close aide of Mamata Banerjee, Madan Mitra, joined the rebel TMC camp.
Throwing her full weight behind Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata dismissed allegations that his alleged high-handedness had fuelled the split and said he had instead become the principal target of political attacks because he refused to compromise.
"Abhishek Banerjee has been turned into an excuse. His family members were summoned. Had he wanted, he could have got relief. But he did not run away from the battlefield. The way he has continued to fight, all his flaws have been forgiven. He is fighting like a tiger," she said.
Referring to the defection of veteran TMC leader Madan Mitra earlier in the day, Mamata linked his exit to the Enforcement Directorate summons issued to his wife and two sons.
"The person who left today had yesterday informed us that he and his family had received a summons. We understood then that he might switch camps. Abhishek has nothing to do with his decision," she said.
Seeking to project confidence despite the exodus, Mamata asserted that she was prepared to rebuild the party.
"No one can stop me. If I could start afresh after 2004, then I can start again after 2026," she said, while also alleging that her political opponents wanted her dead. "They wanted me to suffer a heart attack. But I will live till I see your end," she added.
Her remarks came hours after former minister and veteran TMC leader Madan Mitra resigned from the Mamata Banerjee-led faction and joined the rival camp headed by Ritabrata Banerjee.
Mitra, one of Mamata's oldest associates since the party's inception in 1998, blamed Abhishek Banerjee for the crisis, saying he had suggested that the TMC national general secretary "step aside for six months" to allow the organisation to recover after the party's electoral defeat, but the proposal was rejected.
Claiming that the BJP was intimidating TMC legislators and workers, Mamata alleged that the saffron party was forcing them to either join the rebel camp or face legal action.
"Police is intimidating our MLA's and workers at the behest of BJP...they are forcing them to join the rebel camp or go to jail, thousands of our workers are in jail...I salute them. Our workers would not be facing so much atrocity had I some setting with them...but I never compromise with my ideology," she said.
The TMC chief said leaders facing investigations were abandoning the party out of fear and joining what she described as the BJP's "washing machine".
"Those who have a setting are joining the BJP's washing machine. Those MLAs and MPs who have joined the 'setting company' have done so because they are afraid," she said.
Launching an emotional attack on the defectors, Mamata apologised to the people and maintained that neither she nor her family had compromised for political survival.
"I apologise before the people on behalf of the traitors. I have not sold my bibek (conscience) for political survival. Had I compromised, we would not have faced so much torture," she said.
The internal crisis deepened further after senior TMC leader Anubrata Mondal also launched a fresh attack on Abhishek Banerjee, alleging that the latter was responsible for his imprisonment in the cattle smuggling case.
"Why did I go to jail? For whom did I go to jail? I went to jail because of Abhishek Banerjee," Mondal claimed, while also alleging that he had urged Mamata Banerjee four times after the party's poll debacle to remove her nephew from the party leadership.
The latest developments come after a string of senior leaders, including Madan Mitra, Anubrata Mondal and Rabindranath Ghosh, joined the Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction.
The rebellion has already split the party's legislative and parliamentary wings, with around 60 MLAs backing the rebel camp and 20 Lok Sabha MPs merging with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) while extending support to the BJP-led NDA.
With rival camps preparing separate July 21 Martyrs' Day programmes, the battle for control of the TMC appears set to intensify further in the coming days.
Source: India Today