How the murder of two TMC leaders in a Bengal district laid bare deep divisions in the party

Following the murder, the CM dispatched senior ministers Firhad Hakim and Chandrima Bhattacharya to Malda. She also posted on X, “My close associate, and a very popular leader, Babla Sarkar, has been murdered today. From the beginning of the Trinamool Congress, he (and his wife Chaitali Sarkar) worked hard for the party, and Babla was also elected as a councillor. I am sad and hugely shocked after knowing about the incident. The culprits must be booked immediately. I am so shocked and sad that I do not know how to convey my condolences to the bereaved family.”

The following day, at an administrative meeting, the CM also pulled up the police over the murder, blaming the attack on its negligence. “He was attacked before. He used to get security, but it was later withdrawn,” Banerjee said.

The CM is also set to travel from Behrampore to Malda on January 21 for an administrative programme and head to Alipurduar the following day. In Malda, she is likely to meet Chaitali Sarkar, whom Hakim and Bhattacharya had met during their visit following the murder.

Then, in a separate incident of alleged intra-party rivalry a TMC worker was killed on January 14 when gunmen opened fire at a local committee president and his associates and then attacked them. Bakul Sheikh, the local leader, was attending a programme in the Kaliaganj area of Kaliachak when four to five men opened fire at them and then attacked them with bricks. Ataul Haque, also known as Hasu Sheikh, was killed in the attack.

Haque’s brother pointed fingers at TMC leader Zakir Sheikh, a former Congress member who recently joined the ruling party, alleging that the attack was over control of territory. Sources in the party alleged that the feud began last October after Zakir Sheikh switched over from the Congress, intensifying tension over local leadership and panchayat control. While the police look for Sheikh, they have arrested his close associate Amir Hamza, 24, in connection with the case.

“They came to kill Bakul but instead my husband was murdered by Zakir and his men. We have not lodged any complaint out of fear,” Haque’s wife Suphera Bibi said after the incident.

From Ghani Khan Choudhury to TMC

Malda became a Congress stronghold during the time of A B A Ghani Khan Choudhury, the former Railway Minister who served in the Indira and Rajiv Gandhi governments and represented Malda in the Lok Sabha for eight straight terms.

Though the party managed to retain its grip even after the TMC’s rise in 2011, it weakened in the following decade as Ghani Khan Choudhury’s family also fractured and one branch of the family led by his niece Mausam Noor switched loyalties to the TMC. Choudhury’s brother Abu Hasem Khan Choudhary, however, remained in the Congress and his son Isha Khan Choudhury is the only Congress MP from West Bengal.

Malda district has four BJP MLAs and eight from the TMC. The ruling party’s Sujapur MLA Abdul Ghani told The Indian Express that factionalism was a problem for the party. “Such incidents are unacceptable, sad and shocking. They (the attacks) seem to be a struggle for power within the party. It is unfortunate.”

TMC’s Mothabari MLA Sabina Yeasmin refused to comment on the attacks saying that the party leadership was better positioned to speak on the issue.

The party’s de facto second-in-command, Abhishek Banerjee, has labelled this violence unfortunate but added that one or two incidents cannot be used to judge the state of “safety and security in the state”. “What is important is what action the state government takes. The TMC is in power and if the police arrest someone from the TMC for murder then it shows what the party stand is. Here ‘janata washing machine’ works, no other washing machine,” Banerjee said at a public event last Wednesday.

Emphasising the need to maintain discipline, he added, “Internal rifts occur when a party becomes large-scale. Internal conflicts exist among families as well. With thousands of party members, it is normal to have rifts. Do employees not have conflicts at the workplace? But, this does not allow anyone to do anything they want. The party has always taken action against someone who does not comply with party discipline … We always maintain a zero-tolerance policy. From a booth-level member to me, all must maintain party discipline.”

Congress MP Isha Khan Choudhury told The Indian Express, “In Malda, this area has been disturbed since 2016. The habit of using people with a criminal background in leadership positions is a very unhealthy practice. Such people are used during panchayat elections to terrorise people. There is so much money involved in panchayats, it becomes all about money. The police should also be allowed to work more neutrally.”

BJP MP Khagen Murmu alleged that the TMC had been trying to grab every inch of political space in Malda “through sheer terror and force” for the last 10-12 years. “Then they gave party positions to people with a criminal background as they are needed during elections. Now, it has started to backfire as such criminals are fighting among themselves for power and loot money since there is no opposition at the grassroots level,” he told Express, adding that the TMC leadership had no control over these local functionaries.