All India Trinamool Congress Torn Apart: English, Egos, & Explosions Ensue
New Delhi: In the grand Indian political amphitheatre, Bengal has surpassed its counterparts. But even by Trinamool Congress’s benchmark, last week's WhatsApp-fuelled internal brawl smacked less of House of Cards and more of Bigg Boss: Lok Sabha Edition.
It all began—where else—but on WhatsApp, the new war room for India’s political elite. Somewhere between discussing election strategy and forwarding good morning messages with floating lotuses and raging suns, senior TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee allegedly went full throttle on colleague Mahua Moitra. The provocation? A tiff over a signature sheet, political etiquette, and apparently... fluency in English.
Banerjee, known for wielding his tongue like a medieval mace, accused Moitra of trying to have him arrested at the Election Commission. His crime: He had the audacity to question her. Her crime: Daring to be articulate! "Just because she sounds like the BBC doesn’t mean she can treat me like the help!" he fumed, possibly as he chewed a thesaurus. And then came the leaks -- not of policies or classified documents, but WhatsApp chats. Screenshots that should’ve stayed between group therapy sessions surfaced on social media, courtesy BJP’s digital ghoul-in-residence, Amit Malviya.
Like a snickering kid with screenshots of the class WhatsApp group, Malviya threw the messages into Twitterverse (sorry, X-verse), prompting a nation to ask: Who is this "Versatile International Lady"? Kalyan Banerjee, the party’s chief whip with a flair for theatrics (and questionable English), was tasked with collecting MP signatures for a memorandum to the Election Commission.
Enter Mahua Moitra, the Oxford-educated MP whose crime, as per Banerjee, was speaking fluent English and forgetting to genuflect. What followed was less a cerebral debate and more a park brawl. Moitra, allegedly excluded from signing the memo, confronted Banerjee outside the EC office. Voices were raised, accusations of abuse followed, and Moitra allegedly summoned security to arrest her colleague. The scene climaxed with Moitra in tears, Banerjee in full Shakespearean fury, and BJP’s Amit Malviya lurking nearby, screenshotting like a paparazzo at a celebrity meltdown.
If real-life drama wasn’t enough, the feud migrated to WhatsApp, where Banerjee transformed into a digital Don Quixote, tilting at windmills named Kirti Azad. Leaked chats revealed Banerjee’s poetic stylings ("Send your BSF and Delhi Police to arrest me… international great lady") and Azad’s exasperated plea: "Don’t act like a juvenile delinquent." Banerjee, ever the wordsmith, fired back by mocking Azad’s cricket career and dubbing him "captain of internal politics." Enter Sougata Roy, the party elder whose patience had evaporated faster than monsoon rain. He accused Banerjee of everything from linguistic crimes ("learn his English first") to bottle-throwing in parliamentary meetings. Roy’s verdict? Banerjee must go as chief whip, lest the TMC become a punchline.
Meanwhile, Moitra exited the WhatsApp group—a mic-drop moment—and filed complaints to Mamata Banerjee, likely drafted in flawless English. The pièce de résistance? A subplot involving a proposed sandesh stall in Parliament—a sugary metaphor for the TMC’s crumbling unity. Azad, the ex-BJP turncoat, pushed for the sweet shop, while Banerjee sneered that it should be a state franchise. The BJP, naturally, is gorging on the drama like a child let loose in a sandesh factory.
Malviya gleefully shared videos of TMC MPs yelling at each other outside the EC, even creating a multiple-choice quiz: Who leaked the chats? Options included the accused, the accuser, the referee, and Derek O’Brien—because why not? Back at TMC HQ, Mamata Banerjee is presumably clutching her head, wondering whether to support the old warhorse or the internationally versatile woman with articulate diction. Her party's public image? It's currently doing the breaststroke in a vat of rasgullas and shame. Because if there’s one thing this sordid little saga has proved, it’s this: TMC doesn’t need the opposition to derail them. They have WhatsApp.And Kalyan Banerjee.
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