WestBengal: politics In the recent West Bengal Assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), headed by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, suffered a significant defeat as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a decisive mandate. Following the announcement of the results, Banerjee has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the BJP of irregularities. However, Riju Dutta, a suspended TMC leader, offered a different perspective on the loss. He identified three core internal issues responsible for the party’s downfall: “I-PAC controlling the party, corruption committed by the lower-level party cadres, and disrespect for women.”
Why did TMC lose Bengal?
Speaking with news agency, Dutta said that while TMC could not garner people’s trust, leading to the defeat, the party originally lost because of being under the control of I-PAC for the “last 6 months.” He alleged that the I-PAC asked TMC members to “abuse Suvendu Adhikari and his father,” adding that he was asked to pay a large amount of money to be able to contest elections.
“The first thing is that the people of Bengal have voted against Trinamool. There is no doubt in this. Secondly, I accept that TMC got 41% votes and the difference in votes between BJP and TMC is just 32 lakhs. There are three major reasons for TMC to lose; the first reason is I-PAC. I-PAC has been running the party for the last 6 months… They are sending us messages to abuse Suvendu Adhikari and his father. I went to meet Pratik Jain, and after leaving his office, a person named Arjun told me that if you want to contest the elections, you will have to pay Rs 50 lakhs. Because of fear, I did not even inform anyone at the party,” he further stated.
He further said that while Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee are “being kept in the dark,” they should make efforts to take back control of the party.
Furthermore, he claimed that the lower-level cadres of TMC are engaged in committing “corruption and atrocities against people.”
“The second reason why this party is finished is that the lower-level cadres of TMC have committed such huge corruption by committing atrocities against the people. Neither Didi nor Abhishek Da nor senior MPs have committed any corruption… No one can point a finger at Didi,” he said.
Describing the third reason, Dutta said that on one hand, the lower-level cadres of TMC commit atrocities against Hindu women, and on the other, Mamata Banerjee announced financial aid schemes, resulting in a lack of faith among the women electorate for TMC.
He further asserted that the BJP, despite being a new party in the state, will do better work than TMC for West Bengal.
“The third biggest reason for TMC’s defeat is the disrespect for women. We used to think that all the women in Bengal would vote for Didi blindly, but the lower-level cadres of TMC have committed atrocities on the Hindu women of the village, month after month, year after year. You can’t buy the respect of a woman for Rs 1500,” he said.
“This is the result of the atrocities they have suffered… The BJP is a new party in Bengal, and for the next 2-3 years, they will do so much work in Bengal that no Trinamool leader will be able to go door to door in 2029 and ask for votes,” he added.
This comes after TMC issued a suspension order against party leader Dutta for a period of six years, citing alleged violations of party discipline and non-compliance with summons issued by its disciplinary committee.
According to the suspension order issued from the party’s central office in Kolkata, he had earlier been served a show-cause notice over certain public statements made against the party and its leadership.
The order also noted that the disciplinary committee waited till 5 pm on the scheduled date, but Dutta did not attend the hearing or explain his position. It added that his conduct was found to be in violation of party discipline and detrimental to its unity and public image.
Mamata Banerjee’s accusations against ECI
A day after the results were announced, Banerjee levelled various allegations against the poll body.
Banerjee said, “After the first round of counting, they started saying that the BJP is getting 195-200. You didn’t wait for the final result. You didn’t even wait for 5-6 rounds. After that campaign with the press media, the BJP went inside the polling station, and they started beating the people and the counting agents. When I came to know that all counting agents are withdrawn, I was leading by about 30,000, and about 5 rounds were left. We should have got more than 32,000.”
“Then the BJP candidate went inside along with 200 CRPF personnel and 200 outside goons, and then they beat up our people. Even women were not spared, and they snatched away all forms. When I came to know, I went there. They stopped my car, but I took another route. When I entered, CRPF told me that I was not allowed to go,” she added.
“I said that I am a candidate…Then I complained to the RO that counting should be stopped immediately until normalcy is restored. I saw the DEO. I know that he gave a message to someone 15 days ago that ‘counting mein khel hoga’…I went inside for a few minutes. They kicked me in my belly, backside, and manhandled and assaulted me. That time CCTV was off,” Banerjee said.
Further adding to the accusations, Banerjee said, “I will not resign, I did not lose, I will not go to Raj Bhavan…The question doesn’t arise. No. Now, I also want to say that we didn’t lose the election. It is their attempt to defeat us. Officially, through the Election Commission, they can defeat us, but morally we won the election.”
Following this, West Bengal Governor RN Ravi dissolved the Legislative Assembly ahead of the formation of the new government in the state.
Subsequently, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of West Bengal on Saturday.
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