Major opposition parties including the Congress and the Left, have responded negatively to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s call to put up a broad anti-BJP alliance. State Congress and CPI(M) leaders strongly question the TMC’s true intent and especially the timing of its latest appeal, seeking a stronger Opposition consolidation against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Center. Contrarily, they have cited several instances to media persons, explaining how the TMC’s tactics and decisions, whether in Parliament or the larger national political arena, had effectively divided the anti-BJP forces. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is presently in North Bengal attending a series of local programs and keeping track of developments. In most gatherings – whether addressing poor widows in urgent need of financial help or schoolgirls – she has strongly attacked the BJP’s ‘anti-people and anti-Constitutional policies,’ from the 2002 Gujarat riots onwards.
Meanwhile, state Congress president Adhir Choudhury has questioned the TMC’s credibility. “The party must clarify what it wanted in the name of achieving opposition unity,” he said. Referring to the TMC’s participation in the state Assembly elections in Goa and Tripura, he said, “Its candidates had succeeded in dividing the anti-BJP votes, which only helped instead of hindering the saffron party. The outcome of the elections and even a causal analysis of the poll stats made this amply clear.” However, senior TMC leaders did not attach much importance to Choudhury’s comments. They contended that major decisions at the national level among opposition parties were taken after discussions among top party leaders only. They felt Choudhury’s stand might not necessarily be endorsed by central Congress leaders. Moreover, all through Choudhury’s tenure as the state party president, Congress has become even weaker than before.
For the CPI(M), new party secretary Mohammad Salim not only endorsed the reservations within the Congress about the TMC but went further. He questioned the political antecedents of the TMC and what he saw as the strong links that existed between the party and the extreme right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which many regarded as the BJP’s mother organisation. He cited instances of leaders of both organisations publicly praising /supporting each other on various issues earlier. There have been questions raised on the timing of the TMC’s latest appeal as well. The CPI(M) leadership in Kerala for instance, says that the reasons for the TMC’s latest appeal now must be understood. Much space in the letter written by Banerjee to non-BJP chief ministers has been used up by copious references to an autonomous official investigating agencies. Their current activities, the TMC alleged, threatened the very federal political structure of India, violating its Constitution, during the BJP’s tenure. Mostly these were being conducted to harass and humiliate leading figures within the opposition, the party alleged. However, it remained unexplained why top TMC leaders like Abhishek Banerjee and Anubrata Mondal, repeatedly sought to dodge official summons from these agencies in connection with multiple cases of major financial corruption in recent days. No wonder Opposition leaders of all hues have referred to this and asked whether the TMC has issued its latest call for stronger anti-BJP unity now because the official agencies are knocking hard on the doors of its prominent leaders.
