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The recent developments expose Mamata Banerjee’s politics: alliances are not built on ideology or enduring political principles. They are built around immediate political necessity
Former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. (PTI File)
For years, Mamata Banerjee and the Left stood at opposite ends of Bengal politics. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) was built on the promise of defeating the Left Front, and Mamata Banerjee spent decades presenting herself as the CPI(M)’s most uncompromising opponent.
Yet today, the same Mamata Banerjee is reaching out to the Left.
After CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby wrote to opposition leaders seeking a joint strategy on the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue, Mamata opened a channel of communication with him. The two leaders subsequently spoke over the phone, reportedly discussing the possibility of bringing opposition parties together on the issue.
The irony is difficult to miss. The TMC and the CPI(M) have spent decades attacking each other. Mamata’s political rise was built on the destruction of the Left’s political dominance in Bengal. But when political circumstances demand it, yesterday’s enemy can quickly become today’s partner.
At a public meeting in Serampore, Mamata made her position clear: “There is no need to see who is red, who is blue, or who is yellow. We are all one now.”
She also referred to the proposed INDIA bloc meeting on September 30 and called for opposition parties to unite.
The statement may sound like a call for opposition unity. But it also exposes the central feature of Mamata Banerjee’s politics: alliances are not built on consistent ideology or enduring political principles. They are built around immediate political necessity.
At A Glance
Mamata Banerjee formed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 1998 after leaving the Congress.
The TMC joined the BJP-led NDA government in 1999, with Mamata Banerjee becoming Railway Minister.
Mamata Banerjee returned to the Vajpayee government in 2003, serving as Coal and Mines Minister in 2004.
In 2009, she joined the Congress-led UPA-II government and again became Railway Minister.
Mamata Banerjee withdrew support from the UPA government in 2012.
THE ENEMY CHANGES, THE STRATEGY CHANGES
Mamata’s supporters describe the latest outreach as issue-based coordination. The CPI(M), too, has presented its initiative as an attempt to unite opposition parties on the Election Commission and SIR, not as a formal electoral alliance with the TMC.
But Mamata Banerjee’s political record makes it difficult to view the move as merely principled opposition unity.
The Trinamool Congress was formed in 1998 after Mamata broke away from the Congress. It then emerged as the principal challenger to the Left Front in Bengal.
At the national level, however, Mamata has repeatedly shifted political sides.
In 1999, the TMC joined the BJP-led NDA government and Mamata became Railway Minister. She left the NDA in 2001, returned to the Vajpayee government in 2003 and served as Coal and Mines Minister in 2004.
In 2009, she joined the Congress-led UPA-II government and again became Railway Minister. In 2012, she withdrew support from the UPA government over issues including FDI in multi-brand retail, diesel prices and the LPG subsidy cap.
The political message is unmistakable: Mamata has been willing to work with the BJP when it suited her, with the Congress when it suited her, and now with the Left when the political moment demands it.
The ideological contradictions are not incidental. They are the strategy.
FROM ANTI-LEFT POLITICS TO LEFT OUTREACH
Mamata’s political identity in Bengal was built around opposition to the Left Front. The TMC’s rise was closely linked to its campaign against the 34-year Left government, which ended in 2011 when Mamata became chief minister. The TMC-Congress alliance won that election, while the Left Front suffered a major defeat.
For years, Mamata portrayed the Left as the principal obstacle to Bengal’s progress. The CPI(M), in turn, accused the TMC of violence, opportunism and political intolerance.
Now, the same political forces are being asked to stand together.
There has been no public reckoning with the past, no explanation of how decades of political hostility can be set aside, and no account of what has changed ideologically. The old accusations remain politically useful when Mamata needs to attack the Left in Bengal. But when she needs a wider opposition platform, those differences are suddenly reduced to colours — red, blue and yellow.
That is not ideological reconciliation. It is political convenience.
THE LEFT’S DILEMMA
The CPI(M), too, faces a difficult choice.
For decades, the Left has attacked the TMC’s politics in Bengal. Its cadres and leaders have fought Mamata’s party on the streets, in elections and inside the Assembly. Any cooperation with the TMC therefore risks confusing its own supporters and weakening its claim to represent an alternative political vision.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty has indicated that the Left’s opposition to the BJP is not new and that the party has continued to fight the BJP independently. His comments also reflect the caution within the Bengal Left about any political understanding with the TMC.
That caution is justified. The TMC’s political identity was built by defeating the Left, not by joining hands with it. A party that once presented itself as the alternative to Left rule is now seeking the Left’s cooperation because it needs a broader political shield.
SUVENDU ADHIKARI ATTACKS THE CONTRADICTION
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has attacked the emerging TMC-CPI(M) equation.
He questioned how a party created through a prolonged political battle against the CPI(M) could now move towards cooperation with the same political force.
Adhikari said: “The party that once fought against the CPM is now becoming friends with the CPM. The very CPM against whose long rule the Trinamool Congress was born has today become its political partner.”
He also referred to an Assembly incident in which, according to him, a section of the TMC and the CPI(M)’s lone MLA took the same position during a vote, presenting it as another indication of an emerging understanding.
The criticism strikes at the core of Mamata’s political method. She has built her career by presenting every alliance as a matter of principle, even when the alliances themselves point in opposite directions.
A RECORD OF SHIFTING ALLEGIANCE
Mamata Banerjee’s political journey is a record of repeated realignment.
She left the Congress to form the TMC in 1998. She joined the BJP-led NDA in 1999, left it in 2001, returned to it in 2003-04, joined the Congress-led UPA-II in 2009 and withdrew from the UPA in 2012. (The Indian Express)
The Congress has alternately been an ally, a rival and a target. The BJP has alternately been a coalition partner and a political enemy. The Left, once the central adversary of the TMC in Bengal, is now being approached in the name of opposition unity.
The pattern is consistent: Mamata’s political language changes according to the alliance she needs at a given moment.
When she needed the BJP, she joined the NDA. When she needed the Congress, she joined the UPA. When she needed to defeat the Left, she made anti-Left politics the foundation of her movement. And when she now needs a wider opposition front, she is willing to sit with the Left.
This is not a politics anchored in a stable ideological position. It is a politics of tactical survival.
PRINCIPLE OR POLITICAL NECESSITY?
The latest outreach to the Left raises a straightforward question: is Mamata Banerjee seeking genuine opposition unity, or is she once again using an alliance to serve an immediate political objective?
There is evidence of communication and a call for joint action on specific issues. There is no established evidence yet of a formal TMC-CPI(M) electoral alliance in Bengal.
But the larger political message is already clear. Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly shown that yesterday’s principles can be revised when today’s political calculations change.
For two parties whose identities were built in opposition to each other, the proposed handshake is more than a temporary political development. It is another example of Mamata Banerjee’s politics of convenience — a politics in which allegiance shifts, enemies become partners and ideology is adjusted to fit the demands of power.
Quick Answers
Ask News18Mamata Banerjee spent decades building the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on the premise of defeating the Left Front and ending its 34-year dominance in West Bengal. Reaching out to the CPI(M) now for opposition unity highlights a dramatic shift from bitter regional adversaries to political partners.
Ask News18About the Author
Kamalika Sengupta is the Editor (East) at CNN-News18 / News18.com, focusing on politics, defence, and women’s issues. She is a seasoned multimedia journalist with over 20 years of experience reporting…Read More
September 27, 2026, 14:20 IST
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