Snigdhendu Bhattacharya 
Subhankar Sarkar, the new Bengal Congress president, has a tough task ahead – rejuvenating a party that has reached its nadir in the state. The 2021 assembly election saw the number of Congress MLAs in the state coming to nill and the 2024 Lok Sabha election recorded its parliamentary tally from the state coming down to one from two.
The news of Sarkar’s appointment triggered curiosity, as he replaced Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a staunch critic of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress (TMC) party.
Chowdhury is one of the last Congress leaders with a mass base of his own, though in recent years his influence on his home turf of Murshidabad district has much diminished, which was reflected in his loss from Baharampur Lok Sabha that he represented since 1999.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury at the Baharampur constituency. Photo: Joydeep Sarkar/The Wire.
Two other Congress leaders have some mass bases of their own – the sole Lok Sabha MP, Isha Khan Choudhury of Malda Dakshin, who enjoys certain popularity in Malda, the old Congress bastion, due to the overwhelming popularity of his late uncle, the Congress stalwart A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury.
Besides, Purulia’s Congress leader and former MLA Nepal Mahato enjoys some popularity in some pockets of the district. Among other senior Congress leaders, former MLA Abdul Mannan has reduced his involvement due to health-related issues, while former Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya is almost 80.
The 64-year-old Sarkar is not known to have any mass base of his own in any district. However, being a Congress veteran who has never switched camps (just like Chowdhury, Mahato, Mannan and Bhattacharya), Sarkar is known to Congress workers across the state.
‘No compulsions to protect local base’
According to several Congress veterans who spoke to The Wire on condition of anonymity, Sarkar’s lack of a base in districts worked in his favour.
“Local compulsions make leaders like Chowdhury, Khan Choudhury and Mahato take an anti-TMC pitch. They believe it is by fighting the local power that they can survive. However, national compulsions make the Congress high command to ensure a cordial relation with the TMC,” said a leader.
Another leader pointed out how Chowdhury’s frequent outbursts against Banerjee and the TMC caused embarrassment to the Congress national leadership. “Since Sarkar has no compulsions to protect his local base by fighting the TMC, the high command will find it easier to work with him,” the leader said.
Whether Sarkar will restrain himself while commenting on Bengal situations or continue with Chowdhury’s policy remains to be seen. After taking charge, he told the media that questions like political alliance are not his priority. “My priority is to strengthen the organisation,” he said.
Sarkar said he does not like to be seen either as a hardliner or a softliner (on approach towards the TMC) and would take a stand on issues on their merits.
“We have recently seen the rise of civil society in Bengal. Who knows, this rise of civil society would not create new political equations?” he asked while arguing why choosing an ally is not his primary concern.
“The festive season is knocking on the door. After the Durga puja, I will embark on a tour of the districts and speak with and listen to our leaders, workers and the public,” Sarkar said.
Adhir’s loss is whose gain?
The question of alliance keeps troubling the Bengal Congress. Chowdhury was a strong supporter of the Left-Congress alliance and enjoys a good rapport with Bengal CPI(M) secretary, Md Salim. The Left and the Congress fought the 2016 and 2021 assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha election together.
Though the Congress national leadership was keen on striking an electoral alliance with the TMC ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to give a nationwide message of a strong INDIA bloc, Chowdhury’s consistent TMC-bashing throughout this period of electoral negotiations was considered to have played a role in spoiling the alliance. TMC leaders directly blamed him. Chowdhury did not hide his reservations against allying with the TMC.
According to Chowdhury’s colleagues in the party’s state unit, his loss to the TMC’s Yusuf Pathan, a former India cricketer, seems to have convinced the top leadership that irking the TMC too much was detrimental to the party’s interests since it did not help the party electorally in Bengal either.
Also read: Congress’s Adhir Chowdhury Draws Crowds at 44°C, Language Proves Yorker for TMC’s Yusuf Pathan
There are whispers in the Bengal Congress circles that the party’s national leadership prefers an electoral alliance with the TMC over one with the Left, as the TMC, with 29 Lok Sabha MPs and 12 Rajya Sabha berths is more relevant at the national level as a force opposed to the BJP.
Sarkar has been associated with the Congress for over three decades, beginning as a leader of its student wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI). From 1993 to 1996, he served as a national general secretary and spokesperson of the NSUI and then served as the president of the NSUI Bengal unit, known as Chhatra Parishad.
He thereafter served as a national general secretary of the Youth Congress, in various roles in the Bengal Congress unit and later in the All India Congress Committee (AICC), including an AICC secretary. He has also handled party responsibilities in northeast India.
The TMC challenge
“His advantage is that he enjoys a good relationship with all factions of Bengal Congress. But the challenge he will face is less likely to come from Congress factionalism and more likely from the question, how will he revive the party without fighting the TMC on the ground?” said a Bengal Congress veteran.
TMC leaders did not want to comment on the record regarding this appointment, arguing it was the Congress’ internal affair. Kunal Ghosh, a TMC spokesperson, wished Sarkar the best in a social media post, referring to him as an old friend. “I hope your steps will reflect the reality of Bengal politics,” Ghosh wrote.
A TMC minister told The Wire, requesting anonymity, that the party sees Chowdhury’s removal as a positive message from the Congress high command.
“We have repeatedly said that Chowdhury was weakening the anti-BJP struggle by turning the TMC into the focus of Bengal Congress’ attacks. It looks like good sense has prevailed over the Congress’s national leadership but we will have a better idea only after a few months,” the minister said.
Sarkar, at the beginning of his tenure, has not remained silent on the TMC rule. He said in media interviews that there are concerns about the culture of extortion from industrialists and investors, employment generation and issues related to law and order. His tone was unmissably softer than Chowdhury’s, though.