History often repeats itself, but never in the same way. Bengal politics is once again witnessing a phase that reminds many people of the political circumstances under which Mamata Banerjee broke away from the Congress and formed the Trinamool Congress in the late 1990s.
Before the birth of the Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee had effectively become isolated within the Congress organisation.
In 1997, she was expelled from the Congress.
Around August that year, an AICC session was held in Kolkata. At the time, Sitaram Kesri was the Congress chief. Several senior leaders, including Jitendra Prasada and Pranab Mukherjee, attended the session. Somen Mitra was the state Congress president.
There was a strong effort from sections of the Congress leadership to somehow keep Banerjee in the party fold and prevent an organisational split. However, Mamata Banerjee increasingly felt that the Congress high command was deliberately trying to stop her anti-Left movement in West Bengal.
At the time, the Congress depended heavily on Left support in national politics and in Parliament. Because of that political compulsion, Mamata believed the Congress leadership was unwilling to aggressively oppose the CPM in Bengal. This created deep frustration among her supporters and grassroots workers.
A phrase became politically popular during that period -- the "watermelon theory". Mamata Banerjee's camp used this expression to attack sections of the Congress leadership.
The allegation was that these leaders appeared "green" from outside, symbolising Congress's identity, but "red" from inside, implying ideological softness towards the CPM. The accusation was essentially that while they claimed to oppose the Left publicly, internally, they were helping sustain Left politics.
One incident from that period became especially symbolic.
During the Congress session, an indoor programme was organised by the party leadership. But outside the venue, Mamata Banerjee held a parallel public gathering.
Surprisingly, the outdoor rally attracted a much larger crowd than the official indoor Congress session. Many ordinary workers and supporters quietly moved away from the formal party programme and gathered around Mamata Banerjee instead.
That was the turning point. It became increasingly clear that Mamata Banerjee's mass appeal was no longer dependent on the Congress organisation.
Party splits are not new in Indian politics or even in Bengal.
Since independence, the Congress has witnessed repeated divisions. At one point, the Congress was the single largest political force in the country. But over time, many regional parties emerged after breaking away from it. Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD, and several other regional formations were products of such political fragmentation.
In Bengal too, the state Congress had once broken away from the Congress and even came to power. Ajoy Mukherjee became Chief Minister through that formation. Later, Pranab Mukherjee himself floated a separate political party for a period before returning to the Congress fold.
But Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress became different from those experiments for one major reason: It did not merely survive after breaking away from the Congress; it captured power and remained in power for three consecutive terms.
That is why the present developments inside the Trinamool Congress are politically so significant.
Today, the same Trinamool Congress that was once born out of rebellion and organisational dissent, is itself facing internal fragmentation. Questions are now being raised about whether the party under Mamata Banerjee's leadership is entering a phase similar to what the Congress experienced in the 1990s.
At the centre of this debate is the growing dissident faction led by leaders like Ritobrata Bandopadhyay and others who are challenging the present organisational structure of the party.
However, unlike a conventional rebellion, this faction is not directly attacking Mamata Banerjee personally. That is a crucial difference. Many dissident leaders are repeatedly saying that they still respect Mamata Banerjee and recognise her contribution in building the Trinamool Congress. Their criticism is directed more toward the current power structure around her, especially the increasing influence of Abhishek Banerjee and consultant-driven political management.
The dissident camp is trying to create a separate "political space" inside Bengal politics, a space that is neither the BJP nor the present Trinamool structure.
This is politically important because Opposition space in Bengal has historically been difficult to occupy.
For years, the Trinamool Congress had prevented both the Congress and the Left Front from rebuilding a credible anti-government platform in the state. Now, with internal dissatisfaction growing inside the Trinamool, that political vacuum may once again open up.
At the same time, the BJP is already the ruling force at the Centre and the state. So the question naturally arises: if dissatisfaction grows against both the BJP and the present TMC leadership, can another regional political space emerge in Bengal politics?
That possibility is now being openly discussed.
Another crucial question is whether this dissident group will eventually demand formal organisational recognition, including control over the party symbol and legislative identity, or whether it will remain only a pressure group within the Trinamool Congress.
Ritabrata Banerjee and his supporters are presently focusing not just on the legislative party but also on organisational control and ideological legitimacy. If the conflict deepens further, the battle may no longer remain confined to dissent inside the Assembly. It could eventually become a larger struggle to own the political legacy of the Trinamool Congress.
That is where Bengal politics now stands.
History may not repeat itself in the same form, but the irony is impossible to ignore. Mamata Banerjee once rose to power by challenging a party leadership she believed had become disconnected from grassroots political struggles. Today, a section in her party is making a somewhat similar accusation against the present Trinamool leadership structure.
Whether this dissatisfaction ultimately leads to another major political split or whether Mamata Banerjee manages to retain organisational unity as she did in previous crises is an open question.
