Mamata Banerjee’s meeting in Nandigram today; Adhikarys won’t attend

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will address a public meeting in East Midnapore’s Nandigram on Monday. It is the Assembly constituency of Suvendu Adhikary who resigned as minister, member of the Trinamool Congress and as MLA and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

This is the first time Banerjee is in Nandigram since Suvendu Adhikary resigned from her party. Interestingly, two MPs from the district – Contai MP Sisir Adhikary and Tamluk MP Dibyendu Adhikary — are still with the Trinamool Congress. The former is Suvendu’s father and the latter, his brother.

The meeting is expected to be a show of power and authority by Mamata Banerjee – who must prove that she and her party are a better draw for the people than Suvendu Adhikary even in Nandigram. The Adhikary family wields enormous power and popularity in the district and the East Midnapore district is a symbolic representation of this power tussle between the Adhikarys and Banerjee/Trinamool Congress. In 2007, Suvendu Adhikary had led the anti-land acquisition Nandigram movement along with Mamata Banerjee, and a lot of significant political changes have taken place since.

After being at the helm of the party in East Midnapore, Sisir Adhikary (Suvendu’s father) was replaced by minister Soumen Mahapatra, recently. Therefore, though he is still a part of the Trinamool Congress, Sisir Adhikary is unlikely to attend Mamata Banerjee’s Nandigram meeting today. Neither will his son, Dibyendu Adhikary, attend the meeting today. Neither the Adhikarys nor the Trinamool Congress are very keen that they attend Banerjee’s meeting. According to the Adhikarys, family comes before politics. Moreover, Sisir Adhikary has also spoken against his party, the Trinamool Congress. Under this backdrop, it is unlikely that the Trinamool leadership would allow him to speak against the party in a public meeting or even hint at any discontent in presence of Banerjee.

The Adhikarys have become distant from the Trinamool from the time Suvendu has parted ways with the party. Soumendu Adhikary, the younger son of Sisir Adhikary was removed from the position of Contai municipality chairperson recently. Several other positions were taken away from other members of the family by the Trinamool Congress leadership.

Under this backdrop, Banerjee’s meeting at Nandigram today is significant because it would be a show of power and strength of the Trinamool Congress in an area where the Adhikarys are known to be powerful. It is also important as it would be a public show of the distance and rift created between the Adhikary family and Bengal’s ruling party, Trinamool Congress due to Suvendu Adhikary quitting the Trinamool Congress.