Sandeshkhali row brings up Trinamool Congress’s unique Bengal problem: Two Adhikaris too many

EVEN in politics sometimes, three can be a crowd. Just ask the Trinamool Congress.

Amidst the Sandeshkhali firestorm, it was singed on another front by an old, simmering problem – ‘What to do with the Adhikaris?’. While TMC-turned-BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari is now the aggressive face of the Opposition in Bengal, his father and younger brother remain TMC MPs – an inconvenience that the ruling party has had to live with, its efforts to have them disqualified running into the Lok Sabha Speaker’s wall.

While Father Adhikari (Sisir) and Brother Adhikari (Dibyendu) mostly stay in the background – all the better to not draw attention to their in-between status – on the Sandeshkhali episode, they recently broke their silence.

Sisir lauded the move of Governor C V Ananda Bose, an equally pesky bee in the TMC’s bonnet, in welcoming the women of Sandeshkhali “who felt unsafe in their homes” to move into the Raj Bhavan. The BJP has alleged wide-scale sexual harassment of women of Sandeshkhali by local TMC strongmen.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sisir drew a parallel between the Governor’s move and his own during the Nandigram agitation – the stir against land acquisition which was one of the cornerstones in the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC’s ride to power.

“It’s a great gesture. I know very well what people suffer when they lose their homes. During the Nandigram movement, thousands of people were left homeless and took shelter at my residence, along with that of other TMC leaders and workers. If the Governor can give them shelter for some days, they will get a sense of security.”

Dibyendu shot off a letter to the Governor in praise, writing: “It’s really an unimaginable step you have taken to provide shelter to the tortured women of