TMC filled with individuals who don't bother about anyone: Suvendu Adhikari in open letter

In an open letter to grassroots members of the Trinamool Congress, Suvendu Adhikari, a heavyweight TMC leader who joined the BJP on Saturday, said that West Bengal is standing at a critical juncture as people are destined to make a choice in the 2021 Assembly elections that will impact them forever.

Adhikari claimed in the letter that "an extremely deep rot and malaise" has set into the TMC.

Also read: Heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari joins BJP; 9 MLAs, 1 MP also change sides

"Neither West Bengal nor the Trinamool Congress is anyone's fiefdom," Adhikari, who resigned his ministership and left the party following differences with its top leadership, wrote.

Asserting that the party was not built in one day with the contribution of one person, he wrote that it was a continuous and contiguous effort on a mammoth scale, the culmination of which was the TMC's coming to power in West Bengal in 2011.

He alleged that the TMC, which the ordinary people built brick by brick selflessly, is now filled with individuals who do not bother about anyone but themselves.

Adhikari, who played a significant role in the Nandigram anti-land acquisition movement that helped Mamata Banerjee win the 2011 Assembly elections bringing down the 34 -year old CPI(M)-led Left Front government, claimed that the problems faced by people a decade ago remain the same and "in some cases, has become worse."

Alleging that the TMC has reneged on its pledge to serve the 'Maa, Mati and Manush', he said, "The individuals currently in charge of the party are treating it like their personal fiefdom."

"The individuals have now hired external assistance, people with no knowledge of ground realities," Adhikari wrote in an indirect reference to poll strategist Prashant Kishor and his organisation I-PAC engaged by the TMC.

Enumerating the sacrifices of the grassroots workers in building the party in the six-page letter, Adhikari claimed that these people are now being sidelined, humiliated and outcast.

He alleged that the party is now filled with those working for personal gains.

Also read: Suvendu Adhikari resigns as Trinamool Congress MLA

Adhikari alleged that the TMC is now working against the Bengali culture while claiming to defend it.

He also wrote about Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar drawing "public attention (on) more than 100 instances of a total break down in the law and order situation."

Alleging that the people of the state were being fooled by the ruling dispensation, Adhikari said, "Belated attempts such as Duare Sarkar (government at doorsteps) programme which were conceptualised 10 years after being in power, cannot placate our great people."

The 'Duare Sarkar' programme was launched by the TMC government on December 1 to help people avail the benefits of welfare schemes, setting up camps in many localities across the state.