People are mocking Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee and have brought protests to his doorsteps. Here’s why the anger, even from TMC leaders, seems mostly directed at bhaipo (nephew), and not at party chief Mamata Banerjee.
A curious scene unfolded outside TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s south Kolkata residence on May 11. Two men appeared at the spot, one of them wearing a large photograph of Banerjee over his face and a rope tied around his waist. With his hands folded, the man launched into a mock confession, declaring: “I, Abhishek Banerjee, hereby admit that I stole coal, stole cars, enabled illegal immigration from Bangladesh, authorised atrocities against Hindu women in Sandeshkhali…” The list of alleged admissions went on. He then dropped to his knees and dramatically begged for forgiveness from the small crowd of bewildered onlookers.
The address was Abhishek Banerjee’s four-storey Shantiniketan on Harish Mukherjee street in south Kolkata. The house, unlike Mamata Banerjee’s humble house in Kalighat, had come to symbolise opulence. With half the road barricaded in front and causing inconvenience to passersby, it also became a symbol of TMC’s high-handedness. Then there were Abhishek’s big cavalcades, which shut down entire streets as they snaked through Kolkata in a brazen display of power.
The scene in front of Abhishek’s house unfolded only a week after the TMC was unseated from West Bengal by the BJP in the 2026 Assembly polls. The party, which reigned dominant for 15 years, was reduced to 80 seats in the 294-member state assembly. The BJP, on the other hand, has grown its tally to 208 seats.
Since then, the TMC has entered a state of crisis. The party that once held sway across West Bengal is only a shadow of its former self. Its cadre base is dissolving, its leaders are resigning from their posts and the local strongmen it used to cow down the opposition are being hunted down (and paraded in their underwear) by the police. People and TMC leaders, however, are refraining from blaming the party’s supremo, Mamata Banerjee, for their current state of affairs. Rather, all their anger seems to be directed at her nephew and designated successor, Abhishek Banerjee.
Only a couple of months ago, Abhishek Banerjee was the unquestioned de-facto number-two in the TMC. Having been parachuted into the party’s top brass by his aunt, despite having little experience in the field of politics, Abhishek cemented his role in the party, going as far as to displace several veteran leaders from the party, including current BJP Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari.
In 2026, however, things are different. After the TMC’s crushing defeat, Mamata managed to retain the aura of a leader. Abhishek, however, is drawing sharper backlash as the visible architect of the party’s organisational failures, dynastic overreach, aggressive campaigns, and syndicate-style control.
His lieutenant, Jahangir Khan, conceded the Falta seat, part of Diamond Harbour, without a fight. His name continues to crop up in corruption scandals that many TMC leaders feel destroyed the trust it once enjoyed. Party leaders claim he is responsible for bringing him I-PAC, the political consultancy firm they deem responsible for the TMC’s electoral washout.
The mock confession outside his residence was one of the many ways in which Abhishek Banerjee is being mocked. People, angered by years of the TMC’s misrule and high-handedness, are making Abhishek the target. They have been shouting “chor, chor” (“thief, thief”) to suggest Abhishek’s role in the several scams during the Trinamool regime.
On Saturday, Banerjee was confronted by an angry crowd while visiting the family of a TMC worker allegedly affected by post-poll violence. Protesters shouted “chor, chor” and hurled eggs and stones at him. While the TMC blamed the BJP for “orchestrating” the attack on Abhishek in Sonarpur, people claimed it was the result of public anger.
Clips of Abhishek talking about “public anger” after BJP leader JP Nadda was attacked in Diamond Harbour in 2021 went viral. People suggested that Abhishek, too, was facing “public anger”.
There are several reasons as to why the knives are out for Abhishek, and not Mamata. One, Mamata Banerjee, is still seen as a fighter who built the Trinamool Congress single-handedly. The TMC chief is given the clean chit by most people, though they also fault her for turning a blind eye to the rampant corruption, persecution and the free-run Abhishek has had. While Mamata has successfully projected that she lives a humble life, the taint has reached Abhishek’s doorsteps.
MAMATA BUILT TMC, ABHISHEK WAS PARADROPPED
Unlike his aunt, Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee is far from a mass leader. He played little to no role in the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) decades-long struggle against the then-in power Left Front regime, only joining the party in 2011 after the TMC ousted the CPI(M) in the Assembly polls.
Nevertheless, Mamata rapidly elevated her bhaipo (nephew) to the party’s de facto second-in-command, appointing him as the National President of the All India Trinamool Youth Congress and, later, the party’s General Secretary. Over the course of the TMC’s 15-year rule, Abhishek cemented his authority, bolstered by his tight grip on the Diamond Harbour constituency, which he has represented as a Member of Parliament since 2014.
With the TMC now out of power, members of Mamata’s old guard, who were consistently passed over in favour of Abhishek, are openly attacking the once-untouchable bhaipo (nephew).
A TMC MLA told the Deccan Chronicle that Abhishek’s “arrogance of power” and “blatant nepotism” had “ruined the party”.
This was echoed by former TMC MLA Krishnendu Choudhury, who was reported by Anandabazar Patrika as saying that Abhishek has destroyed the party slowly, bit by bit. He claimed that Mamata knew everything, but she could not do anything. She had no option but to remain like “Dhritarashtra” (turning a blind eye to all wrongdoings).
ABHISHEK’S RISE LED TO BATTLE OF OLD VS NEW IN TMC
While leaders have stopped short of directly blaming Mamata for the TMC’s electoral drubbing, a section of party veterans told the Deccan Chronicle that her “blind affection” for Abhishek hastened the party’s internal disintegration.
A senior TMC leader told the Deccan Chronicle that Abhishek Banerjee’s rapid rise after 2011 widened internal divisions, particularly with the sidelining of Mukul Roy, once regarded as the party’s key organisational strategist alongside Mamata Banerjee. Roy’s marginalisation reportedly fuelled resentment among the old guard. He left for the BJP in 2017, returned after the 2021 Assembly polls, and remained largely inactive due to ill health before his death earlier this year.
The leader also cited the exit of now Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari as a turning point. Then chief of the Trinamool Youth Congress, tensions between Adhikari and Abhishek gradually grew after the latter launched a parallel youth platform.
The rift deepened when Mamata replaced Adhikari with Abhishek as head of the party’s youth wing. Adhikari gradually lost control over key districts such as Malda, Murshidabad and Dinajpur, while also facing pressure from the Narada sting fallout. He resigned as transport minister in November 2020, quit as an MLA the following month before ultimately joining the BJP.
TMC LEADERS BLAME ABHISHEK FOR I-PAC FIASCO
Abhishek Banerjee’s heavy dependence on the political consultancy firm I-PAC, brought in after TMC’s poor 2019 Lok Sabha performance, has emerged as one of the biggest sources of resentment within the party. Many veterans accuse I-PAC of effectively hijacking the Trinamool Congress’s Assembly poll campaign, sidelining old leaders, and imposing a corporate-style approach that damaged the party’s grassroots connectivity.
TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee told Anandabazar Patrika that I-PAC deliberately sowed divisions: “I-PAC hijacked the Trinamool Congress organisation and ruined it. They instigated fights among potential candidates. Those who didn’t get tickets helped the BJP out of anger.” He also criticised Abhishek’s over-reliance on the firm, saying it was never accepted by senior party leaders.
Suspended spokesperson Riju Dutta made even sharper allegations, claiming I-PAC demanded 50 lakh from aspirants for tickets and ran targeted “hit-jobs” against those who resisted. Veteran MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar told India Today TV, “The I-PAC people have no clue about electoral politics. The workers were maligned and left idle.” She claimed her repeated warnings to the top leadership were ignored.
A senior TMC veteran told The Telegraph, “Under the direct patronage of Bhaipo (Abhishek), the party’s soul was outsourced to corporate mercenaries from I-PAC. Mass leaders and street-hardened veterans found themselves placed under the dictatorial supervision of corrupt data analysts and local police chiefs.”
Critics also point to I-PAC’s role in ticket distribution. The party dropped 74 sitting MLAs on the firm’s advice, of whom 51 went on to lose the election.
THE FALIURE OF ABHISHEK BANERJEE’S DIAMOND HARBOUR MODEL IN FALTA
Every politician has a political stronghold. For Abhishek Banerjee, that stronghold was Diamond Harbour. He has represented the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency since 2014, while the Falta Assembly seat within the region had remained a TMC bastion since 2011. Helping maintain that dominance was his trusted lieutenant, Jahangir Khan.
Much of Banerjee’s influence in the area was attributed to what supporters dubbed the “Diamond Harbour Model”—a mix of targeted welfare delivery and tight political control. Critics, however, alleged that the model relied heavily on intimidation to keep opponents in check.
Ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, Banerjee confidently predicted that the TMC would retain Falta. Instead, the election delivered a devastating blow to the party, with the BJP sweeping to power in West Bengal with 208 seats. In Falta, allegations of voter intimidation and EVM tampering during the April 29 polling prompted the Election Commission to order a repoll across all 285 booths.
Khan, the TMC candidate in Falta, withdrew from the contest. The May 21 repoll produced a crushing verdict for Khan, with BJP candidate Debangshu Panda securing a landslide victory.
Though Mamata Banerjee lost the Bhabanipur seat to Suvendu Adhikari, the loss at Falta was seen as the crumbling of Abhishek’s Diamond Harbour Model, which had come to be associated with communal politics and intimidation.
The fallout was immediate. Within 24 hours of the Falta result, nine TMC councillors resigned from the Diamond Harbour Municipality. According to reports, the councillors accused the much-vaunted “Diamond Harbour Model” of enabling corruption and suppressing dissent, alleging that critics were routinely harassed and silenced with police backing.
ABHISEK BANERJEE’S NAME CROPPED UP REPEATEDLY IN TMC-LINKED SCAMS
Many within the TMC have attributed the party’s defeat to allegations of misgovernance and corruption during its 15 years in power in West Bengal.
Among the most notable voices was Ghosh Dastidar, who resigned from a key party post on May 24. In her resignation letter, she wrote, “Some alarming incidents of crime and corruption in West Bengal in recent times have naturally raised questions and apprehensions in the minds of ordinary people. To make democracy stronger, it is necessary to give greater importance to transparency, accountability, commitment, courtesy, responsibility towards the people, and values in politics.”
Former TMC national spokesperson Shantanu Sen publicly expressed discomfort over repeatedly having to defend the party against corruption allegations. “I couldn’t defend it anymore… I was forced to defend huge corruption despite personal discomfort,” he said.
Abhishek Banerjee’s name has repeatedly surfaced in some of the state’s most high-profile corruption investigations, although he has denied wrongdoing and has not been convicted in any of the cases. Mamata, on the other hand, has somehow remained untouched by the taint.
In the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam, central agencies have questioned Abhishek on multiple occasions, including over his past association with Leaps and Bounds Pvt Ltd, a company that figured in investigations involving several key accused.
Investigators have also examined a 2017 audio recording cited in a CBI supplementary chargesheet filed in February 2025. The chargesheet referred to an individual named “Abhishek Banerjee” who allegedly demanded Rs 15 crore in exchange for illegal school appointments. However, the CBI did not explicitly identify the individual as the TMC leader.
Abhishek and his family have also come under scrutiny in the coal-smuggling case, in which investigators alleged that an estimated Rs 1,300 crore was generated through the illegal excavation and theft of coal from leasehold areas of Eastern Coalfields Limited in the Asansol region.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Abhishek and his wife, Rujira Banerjee, over allegations that proceeds from the scam were routed through intermediaries and layered through financial channels linked to individuals close to the family. Both have denied the allegations.
