TMC needs strong local units

Trinamool Congress (TMC) has made significant electoral success in the Eastern Indian state of West Bengal under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and is currently looking for transforming TMC into a truly national party. However, it is also important to be realistic at the same time. India being a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religion and multi-language society, it is never going to be easy for TMC to become a major political force in the Hindi heartland of Northern and Western India. Hence, the best place to look for establishing TMC will be Eastern (Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh) and North East India (Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura) where there are various proportions of ethnic Bengali Hindu and Muslim populations. Both Eastern and North Eastern (NE) India also represents a large number of different ethnic communities with a strong support for Mamata Banerjee's leadership and charisma; and TMC has to bank upon these opportunities to establish the party in these belts. But the best bet for TMC currently is Tripura. TMC right now has rightly consolidated their efforts for sustained growth in Tripura and one could visualise strong promises for TMC in the next assembly election in Tripura. TMC needs to develop strong local units in all these Eastern and NE Indian states to establish the party slowly but steadily.

Saikat Kumar Basu

AB, Canada