Manoranjan Byapari, a well-known author-turned-politician and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA, recently announced his retirement from two party positions due to disagreements with the party leadership over the selection of panchayat candidates.

Byapari, who was elected to the West Bengal Assembly from Balagarh in Hooghly district on a TMC ticket in 2021, said on Facebook that he is retiring as general secretary of the TMC state committee and as a member of the party’s 2023 Panchayat Election Committee.

However, he added that he is not retiring as a TMC MLA since doing so would disqualify him from receiving the obligatory MLA pension. Byapari has also not resigned from the TMC’s core membership.

Byapari stated that he was dissatisfied with the selection of candidates for panchayat elections. As a result, he chose to resign from his party posts. This is not the type of politics for someone like him.

The decision came only days after a portion of the TMC leadership in Hooghly district charged the MLA of granting panchayat tickets in exchange for money to party supporters. Byapari, who disputed the charges, accused TMC Balagarh block president Nabin Gangopadhyay of accepting payment for tickets over the weekend. He also threatened to step down from his positions in the party if the charges against him were proven accurate.

His resignation came as a result of no additional developments in the claims. According to sources close to him, the majority of the candidates he selected were not considered by the state party leadership.

The revelation comes as a blow to the TMC, which is already under fire for massive violence in the run-up to the elections and is battling corruption accusations.

The BJP was eager to criticise the TMC. Senior BJP politician Rahul Sinha stated, There are many MLAs in the TMC who are dissatisfied with the manner in which the party is functioning, but they can’t say it in public for fear of being attacked by goons or being implicated in false cases.” It is apparent that the TMC has devolved into a crooked organisation. He [Byapari] further claims that someone like him cannot stay in the TMC. Good sense has won, and Sinha said he congratulates him for speaking up. More such figures will speak out against the TMC in the coming days.

Sujan Chakraborty, a senior CPI(M) leader, described Manoranjan Byapari as a writer who loves to think freely and make autonomous conclusions. Those who think freely cannot stay members of the TMC. He has realised this now. Byapari has accused the party of selling tickets for money. Many others have expressed the same thing. The TMC can only win elections with the help of the state police. For this party, this is the beginning of the end.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen said Byapari should have brought the matter up to the party’s internal forum before making his judgement. Sen stated that he is unable to explain why Byapari made such a choice. Sen believes Byapari should have discussed the issue with the state leadership rather than addressing it publicly. Sen stated that they had nothing to say regarding Byapari’s decision. Sen stated that the party is completely focused on panchayat elections and that all efforts are presently geared to winning them.

Who exactly is Manoranjan Byapari?

Byapari, a writer and socio-political activist turned politician, is regarded as one of West Bengal’s few creators of Dalit literature in Bengali. Despite having no formal schooling and having previously pushed a rickshaw and served time in prison, Byapari has written a dozen novels and over a hundred short stories, as well as non-fiction articles, and has received many honours.

Byapari was born in the Bangladeshi town of Barisal into a Namasudra family. When he was three years old, his family moved to West Bengal. Byapari left his family at the age of 14 and worked odd jobs in places like as Guwahati, Lucknow, Delhi, and Allahabad. In 1973, he moved to Kolkata after spending two years in Dandakaranya. He taught himself to read while serving a jail sentence for alleged Naxal connections. He was linked to the well-known labour activist Shankar Guha Niyogi.

He rose to fame with the publication of his landmark piece Is There Dalit Writing in Bangla? in the magazine Economic and Political Weekly, which was translated by Meenakshi Mukherjee. He met famed Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi by coincidence while working as a rickshaw puller, and she requested him to write for her ‘Bartika’ journal.

Conclusion.

Byapari, who was elected to the West Bengal Assembly from Balagarh in Hooghly district on a TMC ticket in 2021, said on Facebook that he is retiring as general secretary of the TMC state committee and as a member of the party’s 2023 Panchayat Election Committee.