Trinamool’s solo posture in Parliament is a strategy, not a snub to INDIA bloc

The Trinamool Congress’s decision not to sign the resolution seeking to remove Congress-led Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla should not be misunderstood as a sign of divorce from the coalition of Opposition parties (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, better known as the INDIA bloc).

With 28 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 12 members in the Rajya Sabha, the Trinamool Congress is the third largest Opposition party in Parliament. Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s national general secretary, emphasized that the TMC was not against the move to remove Mr. Birla; but he wanted this to be done “with restraint”, with a “constructive and calibrating” approach, and to give the Speaker of the Assembly a chance to respond to complaints.

assertion of independence

Without questioning the sincerity of the TMC’s stand, it cannot be denied that this decision was also dictated by the party’s drive to appear to be standing alone, reflecting the party’s electoral stance of contesting alone in the 294 Assembly seats. He did not want to be part of the chorus standing behind the Congress and allowed the leading Opposition party to play as a soloist.

At the same time, Trinamool does not want to stay away completely. After all, the party will need allies as it files an impeachment petition against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Therefore, TMC leaders attend all INDIA bloc meetings and Mr. Banerjee can often be seen in the Parliament lobby talking to senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The party is aware that subjecting the Opposition to the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls is only one of the many cruxes of its campaign. He refused to make it his mainstay as the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal did in Bihar.

Focus on Bangla identity

With the West Bengal Assembly elections approaching, where the TMC must defend its government for the fourth consecutive term, Parliament has become just another venue for the election campaign. TMC relied heavily on parochial identity centered around the theme of “”.Banglar Meye (Daughter of Bengal)” to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal. This campaign strategy, first prominently used in the 2021 Assembly elections, has been revived for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to frame the BJP as a “foreign” party hostile to Bengali culture and interests.

Continuing on this theme, all TMC Parliamentarians have been instructed to deliver their speeches in Bangla as much as possible. His speeches and questions also largely focus on the Centre’s debts to the State and the biased treatment of the country’s Bangla-speaking population. According to their narrative, the BJP and its “separatist policies” have targeted every Bangla-speaking person as a “Bangladeshi”.

The TMC has often declared that it is the only party in the INDIA bloc that does not have an electoral alliance with the Congress or any component of the bloc, stating that it has the freedom to take independent positions without worrying about its impact on the party’s electoral ties.