West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday stated that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has been completely wiped out from the state and will not come back to power for another century. Speaking at Gokulnagar in Nandigram during the 19th anniversary of the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement, Adhikari referred to a statement he made last year predicting that he would attend the November 10 Martyrs' Day event in 2026 without the TMC being in office.
Adhikari stated that both the name and symbol of the TMC have vanished as he predicted, adding that the party would not return for the next 100 years. He declared that both "Jora Phool" (twin flowers) and "Ghass Phool" (flower on grass) have been uprooted completely. Formerly a prominent TMC figure before moving to the BJP in 2020, Adhikari was a key leader in the Nandigram anti-land acquisition agitation, which reshaped Bengal politics and ended the Left Front's 34-year administration in 2011.
Reacting to Adhikari's assertions, Kunal Ghosh, spokesperson for the Mamata-led faction of the TMC, said the party is resisting a conspiracy to strip away its name and symbol while also acknowledging the need for self-examination. Ghosh stated that the party's symbol has not disappeared and accused Adhikari of acting out of personal vengeance, while also noting that the TMC should examine why figures like Adhikari were able to create divisions within it. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury described Adhikari's remarks as arrogant, remarking that political mandates are not permanent in a democracy and that voters ultimately decide the fate of parties when mistakes are made.
