Wary of isolation, Trinamool Congress changes tack, joins protest against suspension of MPs

After the policy of distancing itself from the Congress isolated the Trinamool Congress (TMC) from the rest of the Opposition, Mamata Banerjee’s party on Wednesday changed its tack a bit and joined the demonstration in the Parliament House complex to protest the suspension of the 12 Rajya Sabha MPs.

TMC MPs Dola Sen and Shanta Chhetri joined the 10 other suspended Rajya Sabha MPs in the protest demonstration near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Parliament House complex. The leaders of the Trinamool Congress stated that Sen and Chhetri would continue to hold protest demonstrations every weekday till December 23. Besides, they added, other MPs of the party would also join the demonstration, expressing solidarity with the 12 suspended members of the Rajya Sabha.

“We will continue our protest demonstration till the time we don't get justice,” Sen said on Wednesday, adding, “It is our responsibility to raise the voices of people in Parliament. We have been punished for doing exactly that.”

The 12 MPs were suspended from the Rajya Sabha on the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament for alleged misconduct during the last session, of whom six from Congress, two from Shiv Sena and TMC and one each from the two communist parties.

Also Read | TMC's policy of staying away from Congress isolates itself after suspension of RS MPs

TMC MPs Mahua Moitra and Saugata Ray joined Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge of Congress as well as other leaders of the opposition parties to raise slogans, protesting against the suspension of the MPs.

TMC-Congress rift

The rift between the TMC and Congress escalated over the past few months. The leaders of the TMC in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha on Saturday and Sunday dropped enough hints to suggest that the party would keep away from Congress during this session. But Mamata's party found itself isolated from the rest of the Opposition after the suspension of the 12 MPs, including two of its own prompted all other parties to join Congress in launching a protest and against the ruling BJP.

TMC had stayed away from a meeting of the opposition parties convened by Congress on Monday. It also did not send anyone to take part in consultation the leaders of as many as 16 opposition parties had on Tuesday. TMCs MPs on Tuesday also stayed back in the Rajya Sabha for a while even after the members of Congress and other opposition parties walked out to protest against the suspension of their 12 colleagues from the House. Banerjee's MPs in the Lok Sabha too did not join the opposition when they protested on the same issue and staged a walkout.

Leaders of the TMC in the Houses reached out to the Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (Secular) and the Aam Aadmi Party and sought to dissuade them from joining the meeting convened by the Congress on Monday. But, the AAP and the SP later joined Congress and 11 other parties to issue a statement protesting the suspension of the 12 MPs from the Rajya Sabha. The AAP also joined the meeting convened by Congress on Tuesday to decide the future course of action for the opposition parties.

Why did TMC change paths?

The TMC apparently changed its tack a bit after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) asked the party not to weaken the opposition unity in Parliament just for its differences with Congress.

Sources said that the TMC joined the other opposition parties in the protest against the suspension of the Rajya Sabha MPs after receiving instruction from the party supremo Mamata Banerjee, who had a meeting with Aditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut in Mumbai on Tuesday and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday.

Shiv Sena leads a coalition government in Maharashtra with support from the NCP and Congress.

TMC went solo against the BJP and trounced it in the state assembly elections in West Bengal earlier this year.

Though the two parties had coordinated protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the TMC distanced itself from the Congress just before the Winter Session commenced on Monday.

Banerjee was on a tour to New Delhi last week but, unlike her last visit to the national capital, she did not meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Her party opened its door for 12 of the 17 Congress MLAs in Meghalaya and thus turned into the main opposition party in the BJP-ruled north-eastern state overnight. She also admitted into her party Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's former confidante Ashok Tanwar and cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad, who had quit the BJP to join the Congress in February 2019. Two other well-known leaders of the Congress in Goa and Assam, Luizinho Faleiro and Sushmita Dev, had earlier joined the TMC.

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