Suvendu Adhikari predicts Trinamool Congress will not return to power for 100 years

Suvendu Adhikari launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday. According to information provided by PTI, Adhikari claimed that the party has been completely wiped out in the state and will not return to power for the next 100 years.

Suvendu Adhikari made this statement during a programme organised in Nandigram to mark the 19th anniversary of the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement. It is noteworthy that this movement proved to be a significant turning point in West Bengal's politics and contributed greatly to the end of the Left Front's 34-year rule in 2011.

Addressing the people gathered in Gokulnagar, Adhikari recalled a prediction he had made last year. He stated that he had previously said he would return to Nandigram in 2026 for the November 100 Martyrs' Day programme, but by then, the Trinamool Congress would not be in power.

Quoting him, PTI reported that Adhikari said, "Last year I said I would come here in 2026, but you will not see either the name or the symbol of the corrupt TMC. Has my prediction not come true? Now I say that TMC will not return for the next 100 years. Mark my words."

He further added, "Both the 'Jora Phool' (twin flowers) and the grass flower have been uprooted. You will not see the Trinamool Congress again, not even for the next 100 years."

Reacting to Adhikari's statement, Kunal Ghosh, a TMC spokesperson from Mamata Banerjee's group, stated that a "conspiracy" is underway to snatch away the party's name and symbol, and the party is fighting against it. In a statement to PTI, Ghosh said, "The name and symbol of Trinamool have not faded. A conspiracy is underway to snatch the name and symbol from the rightful representatives of the party. We are fighting that conspiracy and we hope we will be victorious. Suvendu wants to vent his anger and vendetta against some leaders of our party."

At the same time, Kunal Ghosh emphasised the need for serious introspection within the party. He said, "We must also think why we allowed people like Suvendu Adhikari to succeed in creating a rift in our party. Besides pointing fingers at political opponents, we must also look at our own mistakes."

On the other hand, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury described Suvendu Adhikari's comments as "arrogance". He said that in a democracy, the public mandate is not a "fixed deposit" of any political party.

Chowdhury stated, "In a democracy, the public is the ultimate owner of power. No political party is permanent. When Congress made mistakes in the past, the people rejected it; when the Left Front failed, the people voted them out; and the people have also given their verdict on TMC's mistakes."

He further warned, "No ruling party, whether it be the BJP or any other, can become arrogant or ignore the public mandate, no matter how powerful it considers itself. India cannot be turned into a totalitarian state like China or Russia, where elections and democracy are strangled."

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury added that the history of Bengal has proven that the people here have never accepted the arrogance and arbitrariness of rulers and will not accept it in the future either.

According to an India Today report, Suvendu Adhikari was once a leading leader of the TMC and played a key role in the Nandigram movement, after which he joined the BJP in 2020.