Mamata Banerjee on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the rebel faction that has split the Trinamool Congress, accusing the dissidents of working with the BJP to engineer a break in the party and daring them to join the BJP openly if they had the courage. In a Facebook Live address, her first since the TMC entered its biggest crisis, Banerjee defended her leadership, attacked the rebels, vowed to go ahead with the party’s July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally despite what she called administrative hurdles, and said that while individuals may leave, ‘an institution does not cease to exist’.
Her remarks came on a day she lost another long-time associate, Chandrima Bhattacharya, who resigned as the TMC’s West Bengal president and from other party posts. Responding to Banerjee’s allegations, the BJP said TMC leaders were leaving because the ‘cut-money culture’, which it claimed had held the party together, had ended after the saffron party came to power.
“I dare the treacherous and ungrateful traitors who are abandoning the party to directly join the BJP and take me on if they have the courage to do so, instead of playing this dishonest BJP-sponsored game,” Banerjee said.
Attacking the dissenters, she added, “You call yourself rebels? Where was your rebellion before the elections? Where was your dissent during the last 15 years when you were MPs and MLAs on TMC tickets and operated as ministers and in other important government positions? Why didn’t you come to me then and voice your differences.”
‘LOYALS ARE PARTY’S GOLDMINE’
Calling workers who remain loyal in ‘these difficult times’ the ‘party’s goldmine’, Banerjee told the rebels, who ‘have betrayed and quit the party with their luggage and baggage’, to ensure that they did not commit ‘the same treachery with the people who voted for them’.
On Bhattacharya’s exit, she struck an unconcerned note, saying, “Chandrima had been saying for some time now that she wants to resign. Her son had already joined hands with them (the rebels). It doesn’t matter to me if a few leaders here and there desert the party and join hands with the BJP.”
Banerjee said that, along with her responsibilities as the party’s chairperson, she would also function as the TMC’s Bengal president until veteran leader Subrata Bakshi, who is indisposed, recovers. She also announced the induction of party leaders Kunal Ghosh and Madan Mitra as general secretaries.
‘REBELS BETRAYED US’
Referring to the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel faction moving the Election Commission and staking claim to the party’s twin flower symbol, Banerjee said people in Bengal would see through such ‘treacherous moves’.
“I don’t care about the party symbol, although I know they won’t be able to snatch it away. They will not get success since I will dangle the symbol from my neck and reach out to the people. Many have betrayed the party and walked away. They won only because I signed on their nomination papers. At the BJP’s behest, they have betrayed the party,” she said.
She added, “But even if they use ‘Vanish Kumar’ to snatch away the party symbol, they will not be able to silence my voice. Individuals may leave, but an institution does not cease to exist.”
Banerjee also criticised the rebel camp for trying to take control of the party’s acting headquarters on Friday and putting new locks on the main gate to prevent Mamata loyalists from entering.
“No one can loot the Trinamool Congress’s assets. No one can seize what belongs to our party. You are taking the central forces with you to put locks on our offices. You may be able to lock up a building, but you cannot lock people’s hearts,” she said.
She claimed the rent agreement with the building owners was valid till October 2027 and that the party had been regularly paying rent, maintenance and electricity bills, while holding up copies of cheques given to the landlord.
‘OUR CM WAS ONCE A TMC WORKER’
On the political developments in the state, Banerjee also spoke about Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, a former Trinamool leader. “I extend my best wishes to the person who has become the chief minister today. But I will remind him that he once belonged to the Trinamool. He was once in Congress as well. He lost elections many times and I repeatedly visited his constituency for him. That was my duty, and I take no credit for that,” she said.
Banerjee said he had also been a TMC MLA for about a decade and served as minister in the transport and irrigation departments, adding that he had charge of six districts where she helped set up Zilla Parishads, Gram Sabhas and Panchayats.
“From the Development Boards of Haldia to Digha, everything was run by our government through you. Suddenly, within just three to four years, you have become a saint. And those who had nothing and struggled all their lives are now being targeted with state terror. Do not act with cruelty, it may come back one day to bite you,” she said.
Banerjee repeated that the party would observe the July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally despite what she described as a lack of cooperation from the authorities.
“The police are denying permission, saying that no rallies will be allowed in Kolkata’s central and north zones until August. What kind of statement is this? Is this the silencing of democracy? Or a blanket order by force. There is no Section 144, no communal unrest. Then why is this being done? Only to disrupt TMC events?’ she said. She added, ‘Even if the programme has to be held standing on a rickshaw, we will do it. Subject to a response from the police on our permission request, we will inform our workers about the rally venue,” she said.
In a sharp response, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said leaders were quitting the TMC because the ‘cut-money culture which acted as its binding glue’ had now been stopped. “The party will have no place in history apart from the syllabus of modern Islamic history of the state,” he said.
In her first public address since the crisis deepened, Banerjee defended her control over the party, announced organisational changes, attacked the rebels and the BJP, and said the TMC would press ahead with its July 21 rally.
– Ends
With PTI Inputs
Published By:
India Today Web Desk
Published On:
Jul 4, 2026 22:58 IST
