Trinamool Congress

The All India Trinamool Congress (transl. All India Grassroots Congress; abbr. AITC) is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a breakaway faction from the Indian National Congress and rapidly rose to prominence in the politics of West Bengal under her leadership. Presently, it is ruling the state of West Bengal beside being the third-largest party in India in terms of number of MPs and MLAs, just after BJP and INC.

All India Trinamool Congress
File:All India Trinamool Congress current logo.svg
Abbreviation	AITC, TMC
Chairperson	Mamata Banerjee (Chief Minister of West Bengal)
General Secretary	Abhishek Banerjee
Parliamentary Chairperson	Sudip Bandyopadhyay
Lok Sabha leader	Sudip Bandyopadhyay
Rajya Sabha leader	Derek O' Brien
Founder	Mamata Banerjee
Founded	1 January 1998 (1998-01-01)
Split from	Indian National Congress
Headquarters	30B Harish Chatterjee Street, Kolkata 700026
Newspaper	Jago Bangla (Bengali)
Student wing	Trinamool Chaatra Parishad
Youth wing	Trinamool Youth Congress
Women's wing	Trinamool Mahila Congress
Labour wing	All India Trinamool Trade Union Congress
Peasant's wing	Trinamool Kisan Khet Majdur Congress
Ideology	Bengali nationalism Liberalism Progressivism Secularism Populism
Political position	Centre to centre-right
Colours	Green
ECI Status	State Party
Alliance	National Democratic Alliance (1998–2006) United Progressive Alliance (2009–2012) Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (2023–Present)
Seats in Lok Sabha	22 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha	13 / 245
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies	226 / 4,036 Indian states 220 / 294 (West Bengal Legislative Assembly) 5 / 60 (Meghalaya Legislative Assembly) 1 / 60 (Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly)
Number of states and union territories in government	1 / 31
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
aitcofficial.org
Politics of India Political parties Elections

The party won a historic victory in the 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election by defeating the 34-year-long Left Front rule, world's longest democratically elected communist government. It has won a three-time majority in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and has been the ruling party in West Bengal since 20 May 2011. AITC is led by Mamata Banerjee as the chairperson of the party.

History

Founding

After being a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) for over 26 years, Mamata Banerjee quit the INC and established the TMC in 1998. The official election symbol of the TMC is Jora Ghas Phul (two flowers with grass). In the 1998 Lok Sabha polls, TMC won 7 seats. In the next Lok Sabha election that was held in 1999, Trinamool Congress won 8 seats with BJP, thus increasing its tally by one. In 2000, TMC won the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Elections.

The party initially joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), as part of the Vajpayee government, and was initially quite successful, winning 7 seats in its first election in 1998. In the 2001 Vidhan Sabha elections, the TMC won 60 seats in alliance with the INC, becoming the principal opposition party. They suffered big losses in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and the 2006 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, and subsequently left the NDA.

Nandigram movement

Main article: Nandigram violence

In December 2006, the people of Nandigram were given notice by Haldia Development Authority that a major portion of Nandigram would be seized and 70,000 people be evicted from their homes to make way for a chemical plant. People started movement against this land acquisition and the TMC helped lead the movement. The Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee ('Committee against Land Evictions'; BUPC) was formed to protest against the eviction. On 14 March 2007 the police opened fire and killed 14 villagers and many more went missing. Many sources claimed (and which was supported by the Central Bureau of Investigation in its report) that armed Communist Party of India (Marxist) cadres, along with police, fired on protesters in Nandigram Many intellectuals protested in the streets and this incident gave birth to a new movement. Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) leader Nanda Patra led the movement. The events led to a significant backlash against the CPI(M) government, and were a major factor in the TMC's success in the elections that followed.

Post-Nandigram/Singur elections

Main article: Singur Tata Nano controversy

In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, TMC won 19 seats in West Bengal, in alliance with the Congress. They subsequently became a part of Manmohan Singh's government, with Banerjee serving as Minister of Railways.

In the 2010 Kolkata municipal election, the party won 97 out of 141 seats. It also won a majority of other municipalities.

In government

Mamata Banerjee, Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal and Chairperson of All India Trinamool Congress.

In the 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, the TMC-led alliance that included the INC and SUCI(C) won 227 seats in the 294-seat legislature, defeating the incumbent Left Front government which had been in power for 34 years. TMC alone won 184 seats, enabling it to govern without an alliance. Subsequently, it won a by-election in Basirhat and two Congress MLAs switched to the TMC, giving it a total of 187 seats. Banerjee, an MP at the time, had not contested the election and had to transfer to the safe seat of Bhabanipur.

On 18 September 2012 Banerjee announced her decision to withdraw support to the UPA after the TMC's demands to undo government-instituted changes including FDI in retail, increase in the price of diesel and limiting the number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders for households, were not met.

The 2014 Lok Sabha elections saw the TMC dominate the state, winning 34 out of the 42 seats. It also qualified for national party status, as the TMC had received 6% of the vote from five different states (West Bengal, Manipur, Tripura, Jharkhand and Assam). On 2 September 2016 the Election Commission recognized TMC as a national political party.

The party was reelected in the 2016 election to a supermajority government, and Banerjee continued as chief minister.

The party won the most seats in West Bengal in the 2019 Indian general election, but suffered significant losses to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which for the first time established itself as a major force in the state. After the election, the party's status came under revision by the Election Commission of India, due to a loss in presence in most states outside West Bengal.

Banerjee's government was reelected again in the 2021 state election by an unexpectedly large margin over the BJP. Prior to the election, several high-profile TMC members such as Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari had defected to the BJP. Despite the large winning margin, Banerjee was defeated by Adhikari in the Nandigram seat, where she had transferred to fight Adhikari head-on.

Presence in other states

Arunachal Pradesh

In the 2009 Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, Trinamool Congress won 5 seats and got 15.04% of the total votes.

In 2020, an independent MLA Chakat Aboh joined the TMC.

Assam

In the 2001 Assam Legislative Assembly election, Jamal Uddin Ahmed won Badarpur constituency. He was a Trinamool Congress candidate. Since then, the party has not emphasized on any other organization. Later in 2018, the work of the organization started again under the leadership of M. Shanti Kumar Singha. In the 2021 assembly elections, it was decided to field candidates from 14 constituencies on behalf of the party.

All-India president of Congress's women's wing and its national spokesperson and former Silchar MP Sushmita Dev joined the Trinamool Congress in August 2021. She is now an MP of Rajya Sabha.

Bihar

On 23 November 2021 Kirti Azad, a 3-time MP from Darbhanga and Pavan Varma, a former adviser to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, joined TMC.

Goa

With the 2022 Goa Legislative Assembly election approaching, the work of organizing the party started from September 2021. The work began with the participation of seven-time Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro. Since then, the party has increased its membership in Goa. Former footballer Denzil Franco and former tennis player Leander Paes were among those who joined the party. On 13 November 2021, Mahua Moitra was appointed as the in-charge of the party in Goa to prepare it to contest in the Assembly election. MLA Churchill Alemao joined TMC on 13 December.

Haryana

On 23 November 2021 Ashok Tanwar, former president of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, joined TMC. Sukhendu Shekhar Roy was appointed as in-charge of the party's Haryana unit on 25 November.

Kerala

Kerala Pradesh Trinamool Congress was launched in 2009. In 2014 its candidates contested 5 seats under the party symbol in the parliamentary election. Leaders like Mukul Roy, Derek O'Brien, Mahua Moitra and Nadimul Haque visited Kerala and gave directions for further development in the party's activities. In the 2016 state election TMC contested in 70 assembly constituencies but due to technical errors, the party symbol was not accepted. On 3 August 2021 a 51-member state committee was formed and hoardings with caption "Call Didi Save Democracy " were spread in parts of the state.

Manipur

In the 2012 assembly elections of Manipur, the party won 8 seats and got 10% of the total votes. It became the only opposition party in the Manipur Legislative Assembly. In the 2017 assembly elections the party won only one seat (from Thanga) and received 5.4% of the total votes cast in the elections. Its lone member of the Manipur Legislative Assembly, Tongbram Robindro Singh, switched to the BJP government in Manipur in 2017. As of 18 June 2020, he has withdrawn support from the BJP, following the disqualification of 7 of its members, to support the Indian National Congress.

Meghalaya

TMC candidate Purno Agitok Sangma won the Tura constituency by a huge margin in the 2004 Lok Sabha election.

The party's Meghalaya unit was launched in 2021.

On 24 November 2021 former Chief Minister of Meghalaya Mukul Sangma along with other 11 MLAs of INC joined TMC which made TMC the largest opposition party in Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.

On 29 November Charles Pyngrope was appointed as the president of AITC Meghalaya unit. In 2022, one defected MLA who has earlier switched from INC quit the party and joined BJP.

Punjab

Shortly before the Assembly elections in 2017, the party started working on the Punjab organization under the leadership of Jagat Singh. After that, during the assembly elections, it was decided that they would field candidates for 20 constituencies on behalf of the party. The party, however, did not gain any seats in Punjab in that election. After that the party's organisational work in Punjab almost completely stopped. From 2019, the party started a new committee under the leadership of Manjit Singh. Since then, the party has had a continuous presence in Punjab.

Tripura

Under the leadership of Sudip Roy Barman, former leader of opposition and then MLA of Tripura, all six MLAs of the Indian National Congress defected to the TMC in 2016, along with many ex-ministers, former MLAs, senior state and district level leaders, in addition to thousands of party workers and supporters, to fight CPI(M), who were running the Government in Tripura. Later in the presence of Himanta Biswa Sarma and Dharmendra Pradhan, Barman defected to the BJP along with all of the other TMC MLAs of the Tripura Legislative Assembly after they cross-voted against party lines in the 2017 Indian presidential election.

TMC won one seat in Ambassa Municipal council in the 2021 Tripura civic polls despite widespread violence. TMC emerged as the second largest party in terms of vote-share in the 120 seats it contested out of 334 seats as it garnered 19.9% of the votes in those seats.

Uttar Pradesh

The party's state unit in Uttar Pradesh was set up in 2005.

In 2012, Shyam Sunder Sharma contested the by-poll to Mant constituency and won on a TMC ticket. He later defected to BSP.

Neeraj Rai is the current president of TMC's state unit in Uttar Pradesh.

In October 2021, two senior Congress leaders of Uttar Pradesh – Rajeshpati Tripathi and Laliteshpati Tripathi, who are the grandson and the great-grandson of former UP Chief Minister Kamalapati Tripathi, joined the TMC in the presence of Mamata Banerjee.

Electoral performance

General election results

Year	Lok Sabha	Party leader	Seats contested	Seats won (in state)	Seats +/-	Vote % (in whole country)	Vote swing	Ref.
1998	12th Lok Sabha	Mamata Banerjee	29	7 / 29	7	2.42%	–
1999	13th Lok Sabha		29	8 / 29	1	2.57%	0.15%
2004	14th Lok Sabha		33	2 / 33	6	2.07%	0.5%
2009	15th Lok Sabha		26	19 / 26	17	3.20%	1.15%
2014	16th Lok Sabha		42	34 / 42	15	3.84%	0.64%
2019	17th Lok Sabha		42	22 / 42	12	4.11%	0.27%

State Legislative Assembly elections

Vote share in consecutive West Bengal Assembly elections
2021			48.02%
2016			44.91%
2011			38.93%
2006			26.64%
2001			30.66%

Legislative Assembly elections

Election Year	Party leader	Seats contested	Seats won	Change in seats	Percentage of votes	Vote swing	Popular vote	Result
Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly
2009		26	5 / 60	5	15.04%	–	86,406	Others
Assam Legislative Assembly
2001		23	1 / 126	1	0.55%	–	58,361	Others
2011		126	1 / 126		2.05%	–	283,683	Others
Goa Legislative Assembly
2022	Luizinho Faleiro	29	0 / 40		5.2%	–	49,480	Others
Manipur Legislative Assembly
2012	Maibam Kunjo	60	7 / 60	7	17%	–	237,517	Opposition
2017		60	1 / 60	6	1.4%	15.6%	23,304	Others
Tripura Legislative Assembly
2018		24	0 / 60		0.3%	–	6,989	Others
2023	Pijush Kanti Biswas	28	0 / 60		0.88%	–	22,316	Others
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
2012 (By-election)		1	1 / 403	1		–		Others
West Bengal Legislative Assembly
2001	Mamata Banerjee	226	60 / 294	60	30.66%	–	11,229,396	Opposition
2006	Mamata Banerjee	257	30 / 294	30	26.64%	4.02%	10,512,153	Opposition
2011	Mamata Banerjee	226	184 / 294	154	38.93%	12.29%	18,547,678	Government
2016	Mamata Banerjee	293	211 / 294	27	44.91%	5.98%	24,564,523	Government
2021	Mamata Banerjee	290	215 / 294	4	48.02%	3.11%	28,968,281	Government

Party symbols and slogans

Further information: Ma Mati Manush, Joy Bangla, and Khela Hobe

A party office of the Trinamool Congress at Jagadishpur Hat, Howrah.

The party name and election symbol represents 'grassroots'– the name contains the Bengali word trinamool, which literally means grassroots, and the symbol is a sapling emerging from the ground. The symbol is known as Jora Ghas Phul (Bengali: grass and flower; two flowers with grass). The usage of "All India" in the party name represents the rejection of "elitist" Indian National Congress from which it broke apart from.

Ma Mati Manush (Bengali: মা মাটি মানুষ) was primarily a slogan, coined by Mamata Banerjee. The term is literally translated as "Mother, Motherland and People". The slogan became very popular in West Bengal at the time of the 2011 assembly election. Mamata Banerjee wrote a Bengali book with the same title. A song was also recorded with the same title.

The slogan Joy Bangla is also officially used by Mamata Banerjee and by her party Trinamool Congress as part of attempt to create a territorial and ethnolinguistic identity for Bengalis in India. It is used in particular, as a closing remark for political speeches.

In the 2021 assembly election, the party used a song "Khela Hobe" across the state. The song was penned by Debangshu Bhattacharya, a party youth wing member. The "Khela Hobe" term has been used across India by several opposition parties and to catalyze the movements against the establishment on multiple issues throughout the nation.

Leadership

The highest decision-making body of the party is its Core Committee.

• Mamata Banerjee — Founder, Chairperson, Leader of the party in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and Chief Minister of West Bengal.
• Abhishek Banerjee — General Secretary
• Derek O'Brien —Leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha.
• Sudip Bandyopadhyay — Leader of the party in the Lok Sabha.
• Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar — Deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha.
• Kalyan Banerjee — Chief Whip of the party in the Lok Sabha.
• Sukhendu Shekhar Roy — Chief Whip of TMC in Rajya Sabha. State Unit In-Charge, Haryana.
• Subrata Bakshi — President of the state unit of West Bengal. MP, Rajya Sabha.
• Sushmita Dev — State Unit In Charge,Assam. MP, Rajya Sabha.
• Kirti Azad — State Unit In Charge,Goa. Ex MP, Lok Sabha.
• Mukul Sangma — Ex Leader of the Opposition in Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
• Aroop Biswas — Cashier

See also

• Indian National Congress breakaway parties
• Nationalist Trinamool Youth Congress
• List of political parties in India
• Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance

Further reading

• Chatterjee, Jyotiprasad; Basu, Suprio (7 January 2020). "2. Rise and Growth of AITC". Left Front and After: Understanding the Dynamics of Poriborton in West Bengal. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 978-93-5328-724-5.
• Piyali, Basu (2017). Dynamics of Opposition Politics in West Bengal (1998–2011) (Thesis). Shodhganga: Rabindra Bharati University. hdl:10603/285507.

External links

• {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}