New Delhi: Months ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal, the Congress on Monday targeted the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), alleging it has struck deals with the BJP to shield its leaders from action in corruption cases being investigated by central agencies.
This development marks a shift from the recent display of warmth between the Congress and the TMC during the Monsoon Session of Parliament—including at a dinner meeting hosted last month by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Long struggling on the sidelines of West Bengal politics, the Congress has so far walked a tightrope—allowing its state leadership some leeway in criticising the TMC, while trying not to antagonise Mamata too much, keeping in mind the imperative of a united front against the BJP on the national stage.
In that sense, the Congress’ political attack on the TMC—made by its national and state leaders while inducting former CPI(M) leader Prasenjit Bose into the party at an event in Kolkata—was significant, signalling a bumpy road ahead for the INDIA bloc.
At the event, the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) West Bengal in-charge Ghulam Ahmad Mir first targeted the TMC, without naming the party or Mamata Banerjee, while speaking about the “compromises” that smaller parties professing secular values often make with the BJP to protect their own interests.
He said such deals were in stark contrast to the Congress’ uncompromising approach.
“Someone gets an income tax notice, or an ED notice, or summons from the CBI, and they start supporting Modi. The Congress will die but never compromise with the BJP. But there are many secular parties. You think they are secular? They go to Delhi when they have cases against them. Remember their thread is connected to Modi. They do so to suppress cases against them, to save their nephews. Don’t make me take names, you are all intelligent people,” Mir said.
সমাজকর্মী ও বিশিষ্ট অর্থনীতিবিদ প্রসেনজিৎ বসু’র ভারতীয় জাতীয় কংগ্রেসে যোগদান পর্বের কিছু উল্লেখযোগ্য মুহূর্ত:
রামমোহন লাইব্রেরি হল। কোলকাতা।
১৫ সেপ্টেম্বর’২৫
উপস্থিত ছিলেন:
★ সৈয়দ নাসির হোসেন ( সাংসদ, রাজ্যসভা)
★গোলাম আহমেদ মীর ( সাধারণ সম্পাদক, এ.আই.সি.সি)
★কানহাইয়া… pic.twitter.com/h0fd6rR8Mo— Subhankar Sarkar শুভঙ্কর সরকার (@subhankar_cong) September 15, 2025
Congress Working Committee permanent invitee Kanhaiya Kumar, who also spoke at the event, said the people of West Bengal had supported Mamata Banerjee in the last assembly elections to keep the BJP at bay. But now, he said, a sense of fatigue had set in in the public toward her leadership.
“I never say anything against any party other than the RSS-BJP. Not even Didi (Mamata), Nitish Kumar, or Chandrababu Naidu for that matter. Because we will have to fight those who control the remote. But people of Bengal know Didi is not capable and Modi is not an option,” he said.
Like Bose, Kanhaiya also has a communist background. He joined the Congress in 2021, snapping his ties with the Communist Party of India, which had even fielded him in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Begusarai seat in Bihar. Kanhaiya lost that election, followed by another defeat in the 2024 general election from the North-East Delhi seat, this time as a Congress candidate.
In his speech, Kanhaiya recalled a light-hearted exchange between Rahul Gandhi and the late CPI(M) general secretary, Sitaram Yechury. Gandhi had joked about bringing one of Yechury’s comrades into the Congress fold.
According to Kanhaiya, Yechury had replied, “Kya tera, kya mera—iss ladai mein hum ek hi nau mein sawar hain,” which loosely translates to, “What’s yours and what’s mine? We’re in the same boat in this fight.”
“This is a fine example of non-sectarian political understanding,” said Kanhaiya.
In his brief remarks, Bose, who was expelled from the CPI(M) in 2012 for opposing the party’s decision to support the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee in the Presidential polls, said he decided to join the Congress to strengthen Rahul Gandhi’s fight to safeguard the Constitution of India from the “assaults being made by the Modi government”.
Bose appealed to people to make efforts to make Rahul the next prime minister, while taking a swipe at Mamata.
“There is Modi and there is Didi who, after having wrecked Bengal, is dreaming of the becoming the PM. But there is no vacancy in that post. If you want to do secular politics, you will have to accept Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. Efforts to disrupt the larger secular unity will be rejected,” said Bose, in an apparent reference to the TMC’s bid to project Mamata as a potential leader of the INDIA bloc.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: TMC mudslinging hits boiling point: Kalyan Banerjee steps down as party whip in LS, slams Mahua Moitra
