Mamata Banerjee faces political and familial splits during Bhai Phonta
The former chief minister's residence saw a deserted Bhai Phonta celebration as several political allies and family members joined a rebel faction.
The ancestral residence of former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street in Kalighat, Kolkata, appeared deserted on Wednesday during the Bhai Phonta festival. According to the Deccan Herald, many of Banerjee's political allies and family members did not attend the ritual at her home.
Several Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, including Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Arup Biswas, Javed Khan, and Arup Roy, joined a breakaway faction of the party. This group, led by Ritabrata Banerjee, celebrated the festival with former finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, who had recently joined the rebel camp.
Banerjee's younger brother, Swapan Banerjee, also attended the rebel faction's celebration. Swapan, known as Babun, claimed that Banerjee had not invited him for the ritual for several years. However, another brother, Ganesh Banerjee, refuted this, stating that Banerjee had decided to scale the event down to a private family ritual this year.
TMC senior leader Kunal Ghosh said Banerjee opted out of the customary large-scale Bhai Phonta celebration to protest alleged police harassment and arrests of party workers following the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ascent to power. Ghosh noted that while the family's traditional Kali Puja was held, the Bhai Phonta ceremony was not a large event.
The family rift became public on Tuesday when Swapan Banerjee welcomed BJP Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at a Kali Puja organised by a club he controls. Swapan told journalists that he would join the BJP if Adhikari asked him to, alleging that Banerjee had not done anything for him.