Differences And Cold Vibes Between Mamata Banerjee And Nephew Abhishek Stoke Divide In Trinamool Ranks

The Trinamool Congress is facing a crisis, and by many accounts, it is quite a serious one. 

Differences have cropped up between party chairperson Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who holds the post of party’s national general secretary. The cold vibes between the top two in the party are visibly apparent.

According to Trinamool insiders, Abhishek, who turned 38 earlier this month, has become quite impatient for a post in the government headed by his paternal aunt. 

Abhishek’s supporters in the party have, for quite some time now, been saying that he should get a senior ministerial berth. After all, they argue, he is the number two in the party and the natural successor to his aunt, who will turn 71 next month. 

Those who are backing Abhishek in the Trinamool argue that the party’s crown prince needs to be groomed in governance, and this is the right time to do it. 

“Mamata Banerjee should allow Abhishek to gain experience in the administration. She should groom him, tutor him, and show him the ropes. After all, he will succeed her one day,” a former member of parliament from the party who is close to Abhishek told Swarajya. 

Those who are rooting for a ministerial berth for Abhishek are still in a minority in the front-ranking leadership of the party but form a large constituency in the middle and lower ranks of the party. 

Mamata, however, is reluctant to induct her nephew into her cabinet. The primary reason for this is that she does not want to ruffle the feathers of her senior cabinet colleagues, who will feel threatened by Abhishek’s presence at the high table. 

The Trinamool Congress chief knows very well that she cannot give an unimportant portfolio to her nephew. That would send the wrong message to the rank and file of the party and also be unacceptable to Abhishek. 

But all important departments are held by Trinamool seniors, and they will not be happy if they are divested of their portfolios. 

Acknowledging this fact, Abhishek’s supporters suggest a way out: Mamata awards the home department, which she is currently in charge of, to Abhishek. 

The Chief Minister has a number of departments under her belt: home and hill affairs, information and cultural affairs, health and family welfare, land and land reforms, refugee rehabilitation, minority affairs and madrassa education, personnel and administrative reforms, and planning and statistics. 

“She can, and should, make Abhishek the home minister. And the information and cultural affairs department should also be given to him. This is exactly how Jyoti Basu also groomed his successor, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,” said the Trinamool leader. 

The home department, however, is very dear to Mamata. It is through the home department, which controls the police and the state intelligence machinery, that she maintains her vice-like grip on the state administration and keeps tabs on not only her party colleagues but also opposition figures and detractors. 

Top Trinamool Congress leaders who are close to Mamata told Swarajya that the Chief Minister would be unwilling to make anyone, even her nephew, the home minister. 

“The home department is crucial in her scheme of things and allows her to be an effective chief minister. Without home, she is handicapped. She maintains control over the state through the home department and will not trust anyone else with it,” a senior cabinet minister, who is a close confidant of the Chief Minister, told Swarajya. 

As for the information and cultural affairs portfolio, it is close to Mamata’s heart. “She is inclined towards cultural affairs and pays very close attention to the department. Many of the schemes and projects undertaken by the information and cultural affairs department are her ideas. Being the minister in charge of this department allows her to interact closely with people from the world of art, culture, literature, films, etc, and she loves that. So parting with this portfolio is also out of the question,” said the senior cabinet minister. 

The only other major portfolio that remains is health. And healthcare is another field that the Chief Minister pays close attention to. She monitors the functioning of this department very closely, and some initiatives like the Swasthya Saathi (public health insurance) scheme are also close to her heart.

“She knows that healthcare is a very important segment that caters to the masses, and she will not want this portfolio to be handled by anyone else,” said the minister, who is also in charge of a few important departments.

Abhishek is not interested in the remaining departments that his aunt is in charge of, like land and land reforms, refugee rehabilitation, minority affairs and madrassa education, personnel and administrative reforms, and planning and statistics. 

These are minor departments and run more or less on autopilot. Abhishek would like to be in charge of a department where he can make a mark. Also, becoming a minister with a minor department will not only be insulting, but will also not be in keeping with his stature as number two in the party hierarchy. 

That is why Mamata wants her nephew to concentrate on party affairs, at least until the 2026 assembly election. 

Her argument is that she spent many decades from the early 1970s as a political worker in the Congress and then founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998, ultimately becoming Chief Minister only in 2011. 

"That’s how she learnt the ropes and gained experience in governance to become an excellent administrator. Abhishek should also do likewise and have no problems starting as a junior minister in a minor department,” said the senior cabinet minister who is close to the chief minister. 

Another senior leader of the party, an MP, told Swarajya that Abhishek “should not harbour any sense of entitlement.” 

“This party (the Trinamool) was built by Mamata Banerjee and through the blood, sweat, and tears of thousands of party workers. Mamata Banerjee is the one and only leader of the party. Everyone wins elections in Mamata Banerjee’s name. Those who are making noises should win even a panchayat election without taking Mamata Banerjee’s name or under our party symbol and show how many votes they can get,” said the Trinamool Lok Sabha MP.

But these arguments and contentions do not cut much ice with Abhishek’s supporters, who want to see him as a senior minister and eventually succeed Mamata. 

They believe that Abhishek represents the hopes and aspirations of the younger generation and should be made a senior cabinet minister with an important portfolio. 

“No one is disputing the fact that the party was built by Mamata Banerjee and seniors in the party sacrificed a lot for the party. But the old order has to pave the way for the new. Abhishek represents the new order, and he has also dedicated himself to the party. His contributions cannot be belittled,” said the former MP who is Abhishek’s close associate. 

Some of Abhishek’s supporters, like Bharatpur Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Humayun Kabir, have been vocal about Abhishek being inducted into the cabinet and given the home department. 

This campaign for Abhishek being made a powerful minister has upset Mamata. She believes the campaign has the covert blessing of her nephew, and she is unhappy about it. 

The campaign to induct Abhishek into the cabinet gained momentum in the early stages of the crisis arising out of the R G Kar rape-murder incident. 

Abhishek remained largely silent, and the only statements he issued were in favour of the agitating doctors. He did not come to the rescue of the state government, especially the health department headed by his aunt, which was facing a lot of flak. 

Abhishek’s supporters upped the ante during this crisis and said he should be made the minister of home and health.

“Abhishek would have handled the crisis very effectively, and all the protests would have died now. He knows how to mitigate crises in a calm manner, and his negotiating skills are well-known,” said an MLA from south Bengal who is also close to Abhishek. 

Mamata, it is learnt, rejected these demands outright and made it abundantly clear to Abhishek’s supporters that her nephew would be given more responsibilities only when she feels he is ready for them. She made it clear that she was the party supremo, and her word on all matters was final.

The Trinamool chief’s close confidants also issued statements reiterating that Mamata is the sole arbiter of everyone’s fate, and these poured cold water on Abhishek’s ambitions. 

As a result, Abhishek started keeping a distance from his aunt and became cold towards her. The cold vibes between the two were abundantly clear during a meeting of the party’s core committee at the Chief Minister’s residence at Kalighat in Kolkata on 25 November.

“The two (aunt and nephew) barely spoke to each other, and Abhishek’s body language showed he was uninterested and detached. He didn’t participate actively in the proceedings as he used to, and was very cold towards his aunt,” said a minister who attended the meeting. 

The core committee meeting was convened to discuss indiscipline by party functionaries and decided to issue a show cause notice to legislator Kabir, who had demanded that Abhishek be made home minister.

Mamata delivered a humiliating snub to her nephew, who she now thinks is trying to upstage her, after returning from Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s swearing-in ceremony at Ranchi on 28 November. 

Speaking to reporters, the Trinamool chairperson said that the agenda of the party in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha would be decided by the leaders of the party in the two Houses and the chief whips. 

What she left unsaid was that Abhishek would not decide Trinamool’s agenda and course of action in Parliament. This came on the heels of Abhishek convening a meeting of party MPs in Delhi to discuss the party’s strategy in Parliament. 

The cold vibes between the top two in the party have led to a subtle divide in the party’s rank and file. Abhishek’s supporters say it is up to Mamata to show magnanimity towards her nephew and give him his due. 

But the Chief Minister’s camp says Abhishek is still a novice and has to bide his time. He has to understand that his aunt is the party supremo and the party will run as per her wishes. Abhishek is willing to concede that but does not want to wait in the wings any longer.