Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has strongly defended party chief Mamata Banerjee amid the ongoing rebellion within the party, accusing dissident MPs and MLAs of hypocrisy while dismissing reports that her recent comments on Suvendu Adhikari featured in an interview to BBC, signalled a shift in her political stance.
In a post on X, Moitra said selective “juicy” excerpts from her interviews with BBC Hindi and Bangla had been taken out of context to "grab eyeballs", after reports suggested her remarks praising West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had triggered political speculation. During the interview, Mahua Moitra said she respected Adhikari for leaving the Trinamool Congress openly rather than attempting to challenge the party from within. "Suvendu Adhikari's problem was essentially the same. Mamata Banerjee had made Abhishek Banerjee the number two in the party. Suvendu understood that as long as Abhishek Banerjee was there, control of the party was never going to come to him," she said to BBC.
However, Moitra maintained that the current rebellion against the TMC leadership lacked credibility, arguing that many of the dissident leaders had willingly contested elections under the party's banner despite knowing Abhishek Banerjee's role within the organisation. "Every one of those people who are making these allegations today contested elections just a month or a month-and-a-half ago. They all fought on the Trinamool Congress symbol. Abhishek Banerjee was not made the party's national general secretary today; he held the same position in 2021 as well. The party won the 2021 election under his leadership," she said.
Questioning the timing of the rebellion, Mahua Moitra accused the rebel camp of changing its position only after securing electoral victories. "Suvendu Adhikari, too, worked alongside Abhishek's leadership before leaving the party and joining the BJP. So all these leaders who are rebelling today—why did they not say then that they disagreed with Abhishek's style of functioning? At that time, they wanted tickets, positions and opportunities. That is why I call out their hypocrisy," she added.
The Krishnanagar MP also rejected allegations that dissent was discouraged within the Trinamool Congress, insisting there had always been opportunities for internal discussion. "There was always room within the party to discuss disagreements with Mamata Banerjee or Abhishek Banerjee. I myself fought the 2024 election without involving I-PAC. So the problem was never that there was no space for discussion within the party," she said.
The Trinamool Congress has been facing its biggest internal crisis since losing the West Bengal Assembly elections, with a large group of MLAs recognising a separate Opposition leadership in the Assembly and another faction of MPs moving to merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) while extending support to the BJP-led NDA.
