The Highway, Yes. But Not Her Way!

More and more of those who had rallied behind Mamata’s poriborton call now stand against her

- Dola Mitra

September 2008. Mukul Roy lay on a bamboo mat on the floor of a tent in Singur, giving an interview to Outlook. His party leader and Trinamool founder Mamata Banerjee, then in the Opposition in West Bengal, had launched an indefinite hunger strike in solidarity with local farmers who were protesting land grab by the then Left Front government for the construction of an automobile factory. Dishevelled and unkempt, Roy said he and his colleagues had spent days without food, water, shower or shave and were sleeping in makeshift tents. “Didi will not budge from here until she gets what she wants and we are with her all the way,” he had claimed.

Nine years on, Roy quit Trinamool late last week and ­resigned as Rajya Sabha member, saying he didn’t want to continue with a “one-person” party, where other members are treated more as “servants” than “comrades.” The founding member and former second-in-command, moreover, acc­used the leadership of advocating dynastic politics, pointing to the sudden rise of Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

So what transpired in the intervening decade for the politician, who had so steadfastly vouched for his loyalty, to do a 180-degree turn?