Linen has been washed publicly by Bengal’s first family of politics and the audience eventually told the show’s over.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday disowned her youngest brother Swapan (Babun) Banerjee for his show of defiance over the selection of a long-time foe as a Lok Sabha poll candidate, reminding the sibling how painstakingly she had raised him.
Hours later, Babun vowed allegiance to his sister, dropped his plans to contest as an Independent against Trinamul nominee from Howrah, Prasun Banerjee, and scoffed at murmurs that he would join the BJP.
At a media conference in Siliguri, Mamata accused Babun of having forgotten his childhood. “When our father died, he (Babun) was two-and-a-half years old. I worked in a milk depot and used to get paid Rs 45. With that, I raised him.”
“As I started active politics around then, maybe I was not able to raise him properly. But I have been able to raise others properly…. He should no longer have our family’s name,” Mamata added. “Don’t introduce him as my brother after this. You can identify him as an individual but please, don’t use my name.”
“From the day I started out in politics, I have been working with crores of people. I have said it thousands of times, lakhs of times, that there is nothing called my family. The party is my family. The people are my family,” the chief minister said.
“Our family, considering only blood relations, has around 32 members and nobody (else) is like this. Everyone in my family is very, very angry (over Babun’s remarks). I am saying this directly, that sometimes people become greedy. I intensely dislike greed,” she added. “Me and my family of blood relations and the greater Ma-Mati-Manush family are severing all ties with him.”
Mamata said she had disapproved of Babun’s activities for a while. “Many a time, people cannot react despite anger. He (Babun) can go wherever he wants. If every person from my family wants a ticket, it will become a parivartantra (dynastocracy), but I believe in manushtantra (democracy),” she said.
“I gave a living example of my stand (against dynastic politics). Now onwards, our responsibility to ensure Prasun’s victory increases manifold…. Some greedy people have challenged it,” Mamata said. “He (Babun) has always bothered me (ahead of) every election.”
The Trinamul chief and her party underscored the episode as an instance of how she does not believe in dynastic politics, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah keep accusing her of in view of the rise of her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, in Trinamul.
Amid speculation about his attempts to join the BJP, Babun had sounded the bugle of mutiny over Mamata’s selection of three-term MP and former footballer Prasun Banerjee for Howrah. Babun announced his willingness to contest as an Independent, if necessary. Babun and Prasun, brother of the late football icon P.K. Banerjee, have been at daggers drawn in Maidan politics for some time. Babun said he had been hoping to replace the 69-year-old MP in Howrah this time.
After Mamata’s outburst, Babun promptly backtracked. Sources suggested he had been rejected by the BJP during backchannel talks in Delhi, prior to her statement.
“I am not going to the BJP. I am not going to contest as an Independent from anywhere. Whatever Didi has said about me, I am accepting it as her blessings…. I want to remain as her brother, nothing else,” Babun said.
Later in the afternoon, the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari said his party would “never induct a person from that family”.
“We will expose him over what he has done in the past couple of days,” he added.
Ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections, speculation had been rife that another of Mamata’s brothers, Kartik Banerjee, would join the BJP. In the 2022 civic polls, Kartik’s wife, Kajari Banerjee, became a Calcutta Municipal Corporation councillor on a Trinamul ticket.
“These things unnecessarily embarrass the party. These gestures amount to backstabbing Didi at a really bad time, not that there’s a good time for betrayal…. She is angry and hurt in equal measure,” said a Trinamul insider, referring to Babun.
Babun was named football secretary of Mohun Bagan in May 2018 at an executive committee meeting presided over by then general secretary Anjan Mitra, outrunning former Bagan players Sishir Ghosh and Bidesh Bose.
Soon after, Prasun and Babun fell out and the internal bickering in the club spilt into the open during an event on the club premises. Prasun allegedly climbed the dais without permission and snatched the microphone from Babun. Supporters of both groups had come to blows at the event and police had to intervene.
While Babun belonged to Anjan Mitra’s camp, Prasun owed allegiance to the faction led by former club president Swapan Sadhan (Tutu) Bose, his son and former secretary Srinjoy Bose, and former treasurer Debashish Dutta.
Before Mamata’s media conference, Babun had said of Prasun: “Someone who has no ability to pass even Class V is being sent to for graduation.”
“I was told I could get a ticket in 2019 and 2021. There was a possibility again this time... yes, I am unhappy,” he had said, adding he was “allergic” to Prasun.
“There were many better candidates… yet, someone unacceptable to the people, a bad person, was fielded again,” he had said. “If she (Mamata) calls me, I will explain my decision.”