CPI(M) Youth Leader Joins Trinamool Congress, Criticizes Party Leadership

CPI(M) youth leader Pratikur Rahman, who resigned from the party on February 16, joined the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday. Just before joining the TMC, the CPI(M) expelled Rahman from the party. Rahman defected to the TMC in the presence of Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, against whom he had contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. At around 4 pm, Rahman met Abhishek Banerjee at Amtala in South 24 Parganas, for an half‑hour discussion at his office, after which both the leaders addressed the media. Welcoming Rahman into the party fold, Abhishek said, “Many CPI(M) leaders are saying, Pratikur did a deal with us, Pratikur has joined with an MLA ticket. The fact is, Pratikur came to meet me and the first sentence he said, ‘Dada, I don’t want to fight in the Assembly election. I want to do an organisation’. Nowadays, it is rare to find such leaders. He stood against CPI(M) leader’s wrong policy and for that reason, they are attacking him.” “They are saying they are the only Leftist. Is Mahasweta Devi not Leftist? She certified Mamata Banerjee. Is Amartya Sen not Leftist? He said Mamata Banerjee is a candidate for Prime Minister,” Abhishek said while attacking the CPI(M) leadership. When asked about accepting Rahman into the party despite him contesting against him in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Abhishek said, “It is Pratikur’s kindness that he showed courage to stand against CPI(M)’s wrong policy and came to meet for talk.” Rahman, who was a state committee member of the CPI(M), told media persons that he felt suffocated within the Marxist party. “I joined Trinamool Congress to fight against fascist power BJP and will not give BJP entry in Bengal. CPI(M) is not fighting against BJP. They were meeting with communal Muslim forces like SDPI, Humayun Kabir, Welfare party.” He praised Mamata Banerjee government’s welfare schemes, saying, “CPI(M) party wrongly assessed Lakshmir Bhandar like programmes of Mamata Banerjee, which not only helped poor and downtrodden people but also gave self-confidence to women of this state. Later, the party realised it and asked not to oppose such projects, rather we will demand for more money in this project. When Mamata Banerjee is fighting against the BJP, CPIM leader (Salim) went to meet BJP leaders, how many times, I will tell you later.” Meanwhile, Abhishek, considered the number two in the TMC, also appealed to young CPI(M) leaders who are fighting at the ground level, “Those who are not greedy. Who are honestly doing politics, come out and do work for people. As a general secretary of a party, I am appealing to you to join our party, to work for us. It is also not necessary that you people have to join TMC. You can join any other party to work for the people.” Earlier, in the 2021 Assembly polls, Rahman had contested from Diamond Harbour and came third after TMC and BJP. A senior CPI(M) leader said that disagreements between Rahman and the party leadership started cropping up last year during the South 24 Parganas district conference.