Not just at top, TMC cracks at grassroots too as people step out against ‘syndicates’

At the Sonarpur office, auto drivers talk about no longer having to pay “Rs 120 monthly per vehicle”, allegedly demanded by local TMC leaders.

A demolition drive in Beleghata, a maze of high-rises and tightly packed structures in a TMC turf. (Photo by by Partha Paul)

It was just 2 km away from the railway station that TMC No. 2 Abhishek Banerjee was attacked on May 30 by a mob, which pelted him with eggs, shoes and stones – in what was seen as reflection of the large-scale anger against the TMC in general, and Abhishek in particular. Other TMC leaders accused of extortion or in alleged scams have also faced public fury, as well as arrests. Reports talk of leaders going on the run; found hiding, including under a stack of saris; or returning the “cut money” they took, in the hope of being spared.

It was under the Left’s 34 years in power that the syndicate system originated. However, under the TMC, it expanded and dug in deeper, with party leaders openly lending their weight to the system. From autorickshaw unions to supply of building materials and workers, from permission for construction to illegal buildings, and from sand mining to land grab, the “syndicates” ruled the roost.

Now, even as the TMC is cracking at the top, and Mamata Banerjee is fighting desperately to keep hold of her party, at the grassroot level too, the breach is spreading.

The Indian Express tracks this collapse across three places where TMC leaders find themselves in the dock – Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas, Beleghata in Kolkata, and Jamalpur in Purba Bardhaman.

Sonarpur: ‘Rule of fear’

At Kamrabad’s Bhowmik Park, a half-constructed house stands out. Bapi Haldar, who owns a workshop making iron grilles nearby, says: “Eight months back, construction started on the house. We don’t know how the government land was occupied, but no one protested out of fear. Since May 4 (when the Bengal results were declared), construction has stopped.”

TMC leaders and workers who would always be seen hanging around in the area that was a party bastion have disappeared, adds Haldar. “Everything has changed… We don’t see many BJP leaders too, but that is because there are none in this area.”

One of the buildings linked to TMC strongman of Beleghata being demolished. (Photo by by Partha Paul)

In the attack on Abhishek, the most prominent accused was a local TMC strongman. Of the other five arrested, one was a TMC booth worker.

At a Kamrabad railway gate nearby, the office of local councillor Anita Bose (Ward No. 9) is locked. Locals say she has hardly been seen since May 4. Calls to her phone get no response.

Bacchu Das, the chief of the local BJP unit or ‘Shakti Kendra’ in Kamrabad, says: “We could not even appoint booth agents in the area (during the elections)… Now people are slowly opening up. We are asking them to lodge complaints.”

About 2 km away, in Ghashiyara, Rupali Mondol (28) says she is back at home with her son, after a year. In August 2025, TMC workers allegedly loyal to local councillor Krishnapada Mondol (Ward No. 13) ransacked her roadside vegetable shop and part of her house, to erect a ‘Shahid Bedi (martyrs’ memorial)’.

Rupali claims the councillor demanded Rs 20,000 to let her carry on her business. “I asked him if I could pay in instalments… He refused. So they ransacked my shop… I lodged a complaint with the police and National Commission for Women, but nothing happened.”

She says that after the results, she heard that the councillor was on the run. His house was locked when The Indian Express visited. “So I am back home. I have pleaded with local BJP leaders to get my shop back,” Rupali says.

A neighbour, Narayan Dasi Mondol, 76, talks of Krisnapada “forcefully making a concrete road going through our property”. “We could not even file a police complaint as TMC goons threatened my sons.”

Police refused to comment when asked about this.

About 6-7 km away, Councillor Tapash Haldar of Ward No. 22, Rajpur-Sonarpur Municipality, and associates Biltu Mitra, Chiranjit Ghosh and Mannan Mollah are under arrest.

Rita Mondol, 41, whose husband Pranab is an autorickshaw driver and a BJP supporter, says that four days after the results, when they were away, their house was attacked by TMC workers. This time when they complained to police, the TMC men were arrested, she says. “After that, people are living in peace.”

Structures at Jamalpur, where a flood relief and a community centre were out of bound for villagers, used to stock papers, illegally mined sand.
(Photo by by Partha Paul)

Shuvankar Bhattacharya, also a BJP supporter and a gig worker, says he was beaten up by alleged TMC workers after the 2021 Assembly elections which the party won. A resident of Malancha-Mahinagar, a badly injured Shivankar took shelter in “a BJP relief camp” for months. “They threatened that if I went to police, they would set my house on fire and kill my mother and wife,” he says.

The BJP’s Jadavpur organisational district secretary, Swarup Roy, says: “Syndicate raj and goondagiri of the TMC is now almost over… In pockets where illegal activities are still on, the administration has been told to take steps.”

Beleghata in Kolkata: ‘Build, build, build’

Like Sonarpur, Beleghata was known as a TMC turf, with party candidate Kunal Ghosh winning from here in the recent Assembly elections by 28,573 votes.

But since the BJP government took over, tremors have been sweeping through the area that is a hub of tightly packed buildings and high rises, with Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) sending out notices to many of the structures and demolishing others.

All the TMC offices located along the Beleghata Main Road area are shut.

Dibas Dey, a CPI(M) area committee member, says: “Beleghata is famous for ‘thika tenancy (a tenant renting land and building on it)’, and after the TMC came to power, they grabbed more and more land and made high-rises. Almost all such buildings are illegal. Now the kingpins are on the run.”

Among the biggest allegedly was Raju Naskar, a TMC strongman and contractor. He is now under arrest, with one of his prominent multi-storey buildings among those razed. Three weeks ago, during a post-victory rally in his Bhabanipur seat, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said: “I have given the Municipal Affairs Secretary and KMC Commissioner four names: Raju Naskar from Beleghata; Sona Pappu from Kasba; Abhishek Banerjee; and Javed Khan’s son… The BJP government will put these corrupt people behind bars.” Adhikari also attributed more than a dozen properties to each of the four.

Structures at Jamalpur, where a flood relief and a community centre were out of bound for villagers, used to stock papers, illegally mined sand. (Photo by by Partha Paul)

The change in fortunes of Naskar has been stark. A former taxi driver, he started a career in construction with a promoter during the Left regime, but grew close to TMC heavyweights after Mamata came to power. A former associate and local youth TMC leader says: “Naskar remained on very good terms with police, political leaders and the KMC’s Building Department officials.”

This is why people are scared of speaking about him openly, the TMC leader says. “Naskar is arrested now, but what if he returns?”

A local youth TMC leader and a former Naskar associate says he controlled the area through “a huge team of goons… a women’s team and a men’s men”, who threatened landowners into signing agreements.

Somnath Dolui, a resident of Beleghata, says he was one of those landowners. After the 2021 results, Naskar allegedly first grabbed his family land, and then went back on a promise to give 50:50 share in flats. “Police declined to even register a complaint,” Dolui says.

While police refused to comment, a KMC official says that “more than a hundred” buildings” in Beleghata face action. “We are studying the cases and our team is doing surveys.”

The KMC itself, accused of giving clearances without necessary papers in places such as Beleghata, stands dissolved. After Mayor Firhad Hakim of the TMC resigned, an administrator is running the corporation.

The BJP’s Partha Chowdhury, who lost the recent Assembly polls from Beleghata to the TMC, says: “Not just the syndicate, people here are coming to police with complaints of other illegal practices of the TMC too.”

Jamalpur, Purba Bardhaman: ‘The sand mafia’

About a hundred kilometres from Kolkata, in Shah Hussainpur village of Jamalpur block, a community centre and a flood shelter along the Damodar river are locked these days. The block INTTUC president, Tabarak Ali Mondol, and his wife Arifa, a panchayat pradhan, are under arrest.

Police say the two government structures were used as an office and restrooms by an illegal sand mining syndicate led by Tabarak, with villagers denied access to them. Police claim to have recovered from the two sites bags of fertilizers, rice and pesticides, apart from MNREGS job cards and other documents.

“Fertilisers, pesticides and other items meant for distribution among villagers were sold in the black market. Job cards were also forcibly taken, and syndicate members decided what work would be done and who got it,” says a villager, Sheikh Mortej.

At the community hall, located in Fatehpur, two earthmovers reportedly owned by Tabarak are parked in the front. Gopal Adak, 60, standing beside huge pits on the river bank indicating massive mining, says: “Every day, 150 to 200 trucks carried out sand… No one protested out of fear.”

“Now, that fear is gone,” says Nimai Majhi, 40. “Apart from illegal sand mines, cut money was taken from people who got Banglar Bari (housing scheme)… We are planning to lodge complaints.”

Jamalpur Block Development Officer Parthasarathi Dey told The Indian Express: “We were not aware that such activities were on. However, police are investigating everything now.”

Says local BJP leader Mrityunjay Chandra: “For a long time, TMC leaders here indulged in such activities. People repeatedly complained but no action was taken. The BJP government is changing that.”