The political landscape in West Bengal is in turmoil following the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to temporarily freeze the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) name and symbol. The move, which stems from a deepening internal rift within the party, has triggered a sharp war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The controversy began after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took to social media platform X to condemn the ECI’s intervention. Accusing the government of orchestrating a calculated dismantling of opposition parties, Gandhi stated, “First Shiv Sena, then NCP, and now Trinamool Congress. Every time, the same pattern—BJP and the Election Commission join forces to split a party. Then its election symbol is snatched away. When an entire party can be stolen, it’s hardly surprising that the votes of millions of Indians can be stolen too.”
The BJP was quick to issue a stinging retort. National spokesperson Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi held a press conference on Friday, dismissing Gandhi’s claims as a display of historical and political ignorance.
“People have a perception about Rahul Gandhi that he knows nothing about the country,” Trivedi remarked. “Today, he has posted a remarkable tweet which suggests that he knows nothing about his own party either. I want to tell him that these parties—the TMC and NCP—were formed by breaking away from Congress themselves.”
The historical context of the Trinamool Congress supports Trivedi’s assertion. Mamata Banerjee, once a prominent figure within the Congress, famously split from the parent organization on January 1, 1998, to form the AITC. The party’s own official documentation cites a “relentless struggle against injustice” and the need for an independent platform to challenge the CPI(M) as the primary drivers behind the historic exit.
The current crisis within the TMC follows a crushing defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections held earlier this year. The electoral setback sparked an internal rebellion, with 57 members breaking ranks to back Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP), effectively creating two competing factions within the party.
As the ECI works to resolve the deadlock ahead of upcoming by-elections in West Bengal and Assam, it has taken the unprecedented step of assigning new identities to both camps. The faction led by Mamata Banerjee has been provisionally registered as “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” with the “football player” as its election symbol. Meanwhile, the splinter group led by Ritabrata Banerjee will contest under the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress,” carrying the “envelope” as its symbol.
With accusations of “party theft” flying between the nation’s top political leaders and the looming by-polls, the ECI’s decision is expected to dominate the political discourse in the coming weeks, further complicating the already fragile landscape of the INDIA bloc.
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