21 Years After Split With INC, TMC Drops ‘Congress’ From Its Name; To Publicly Retain Just ‘Trinamool’

21 years after breaking away from the Indian National Congress (INC), the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress has decided to drop the word ‘Congress’ from its logo, with the party’s name being reduced to just Trinamool, reports The Hindu.

Although the party’s official registration with the Election Commission will remain as the ‘All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)‘, all its public communication material such as logos, banners, posters, etc, will do without the word Congress.

“It’s been 21 years since we became a separate entity and everyone in Bengal calls us Trinamool,” a senior party functionary said, explaining the reasoning behind the rebranding.

The name change is already reflected in the facebook pages of the party’s main leaders such as Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’ Brien.

Trinamool Congress had been formed by Mamata Banerjee in January 1998 following a split with the INC because of the perception that the latter was treating the then ruling party of the state, Communist Party of India (Marxist), in a ‘soft’ manner.

The party is now also looking to expand its influence beyond West Bengal, and is thus fielding candidates for Lok Sabha seats in the neighbouring states of Assam and Jharkhand; the name change will help solidify its separate identity from the INC in these new areas.