End in sight to prolonged TMC-Centre tensions: Winds of change in Bengal may push power tussles, legal battles out of window

In 2021, the West Bengal government filed an original suit before the Supreme Court arguing that the Centre had “unconstitutionally” deployed the CBI despite the state having withdrawn its consent. Amidst concerns that Opposition leaders are being “targeted in the guise of CBI investigations”, several other states — Punjab, Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Telangana, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka— withdrew their consent to the CBI. However, when governments changed, the state governments too altered their positions on the issue. In 2024, the SC ruled that West Bengal’s suit was maintainable; a larger bench is expected to hear the issue.
Apart from the CBI, the West Bengal government has had frequent run-ins with other central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The SC is currently hearing an ED plea against outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee regarding alleged interference in an investigation at the Kolkata office of political consultancy firm I-PAC.

The state police filed FIRs against ED officers in the state, reflecting a pattern of retaliation. The SC stayed FIRs against ED officials and ordered that CCTV footage and digital data from the search site be preserved.

Run-ins with Gov

In a swipe against the then Governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Mamata government had passed a series of Bills to replace the Governor with the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of state universities. The clashes continued in courts as the state government moved the SC against another former Governor, Ananda Bose, for sitting on Bills. The ruling TMC termed the delay in granting assent an attempt to “defeat and subvert” the legislative mandate of the state government.

The SC, in the case of Tamil Nadu, had ruled in favour of the state government. This ruling would have been a template for West Bengal as well, but a reference by the President effectively watered down the standard set for the Governor.

The latest face-off in court between the state and the Centre was on the issue of the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Apart from the procedural aspects of the issue, the West Bengal government had also challenged the EC’s power to conduct such an exercise, which the SC is yet to rule on. In an unprecedented hearing, Mamata Banerjee, as the sitting Chief Minister, made submissions before the apex court challenging the SIR process. She had filed the case in her personal capacity, separate from the state government’s plea, taking the issue head-on.

Policy differences

On policy aspects, in 2022, the Centre stopped the release of funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in West Bengal “due to non-compliance of directives of the central government”. In October last year, the SC had dismissed the Centre’s appeal challenging a June 18 order of the Calcutta High Court, which directed implementation of the MGNREGS in West Bengal prospectively from August 1, 2025.

Now, with the BJP’s victory in the Assembly elections, funding under key central schemes are expected to resume under the new Chief Minister.