Sushmita Dev’s parting line to Sonia Gandhi leaves the option open for her future role as a possible bridge between her new party and the Congress. “I hope I have your good wishes as I begin a new chapter in my life of public service,” the Assam politician wrote in her resignation letter to the Congress chief on Monday.
The fact that Sushmita, daughter of Assam Congress stalwart and influential Bengali leader Santosh Mohan Dev, did not join the Bharatiya Janata Party but chose the Trinamool Congress makes her less of a pariah. But her exit came as a huge shock to many within the Congress. Until a few days ago, Sushmita was seen clicking pictures with Rahul Gandhi at the Save the Constitution-Halla Bol rally near Parliament. But it’s clear that her disillusionment with the party was brewing for some time. During this year’s Assam assembly polls, she had quit the party only to take her resignation back. The Congress alliance with Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF was not approved by her as she felt it would hurt her politically. In private, she complained that she was not even kept on board while taking the decision.
Sushmita’s resignation once again brings to the fore the fact that the younger and a large section of Congress leaders are wondering where their future lies. The lack of clear leadership and repeated failures in elections is leaving a bleak future for many Congress leaders. The exodus has not stopped. Jitin Prasada and Abhijeet Mukherjee are among recent defectors.
Kapil Sibal, a member of the ‘G-23’ group of dissenters, who earned the loyalists’ wrath for hosting a dinner for senior opposition leaders recently, tweeted on Sushmita’s exit, “Sushmita Dev Resigns from primary membership of our Party. While young leaders leave we ‘oldies’ are blamed for our efforts to strengthen it. The Party moves on with: Eyes Wide Shut”.
But the choice of TMC by Sushmita is interesting and both she and her new party have a strategy. First to Sushmita: she comes from the Barak valley and was MP from Silchar. Barak valley is fully Bengali like her and this could be the stepping board for the TMC to expand in Assam. For Sushmita, who has been pushed out of political relevance with the Congress defeat in the assembly polls and BJP forming the government, associating with a Bengali party like Trinamool could help keep her feet on the ground in Assam. Besides this, Sushmita, as a woman and Bengali face, could be an asset for the TMC in the north-eastern states as well where the party wants to begin its battle against the BJP. Like in Tripura.
For the TMC, Sushmita brings a lot to the table. An articulate, firebrand Bengali face could come in handy in states other than Bengal. It’s clear that the TMC has done a rethink on its expansion plans and its strategy to take on the BJP in 2024. Instead of focusing on untouched territories like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, it’s now zeroing in on unseating the BJP in the Northeast. Tripura is phase 1 of this plan. Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek has become the face of the party there and the TMC has accused the BJP of attacking its leaders. Sushmita, with her experience as chief of the Congress women’s wing and a street politician, can fit into the TMC’s plans.
But this also raises an important point. How will the Congress accept the fact that even as it warms up to Trinamool for Mission 2024, the party is not averse to poaching its leaders? It’s Mamata Banerjee’s way of telling the opposition, especially the Congress, that she is the boss. And as for the Congress, as long as it flounders in polls, more of its members may want to look for better options. Like Sushmita Dev did.
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