Suvendu vows to keep Mamata off the streets, TMC chairperson says not taking political sanyas

Referring to former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee interacting with her supporters through social media, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday (August 24, 2026) suggested that her predecessor remains active on Facebook and said that he will ensure that she does not hit the streets.

“Remain active on facebook. You will not have to go out on the streets anymore. I will also make arrangements so that you cannot go out on the streets,” the Chief Minister said, while addressing a press conference at the State Secretariat.

Ms. Banerjee, who only a few hours ago reiterated that she will not be pushed into a political sanyas, described the remark as a threat.

“A NEW LOW in Indian politics! @SuvenduWB, while seated in a government office, has brazenly THREATENED me, publicly declaring that he will ensure I cannot even leave my home. I call upon the Hon’ble President of India, the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, and the people of India: Is this the India envisioned by our Constitution?” the Trinamool Congress chairperson wrote on X in a late evening post. A number of leaders of the Trinamool Congress joined Ms. Banerjee in taking on the Chief Minister.

After the defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls 2026, Ms. Banerjee, who made her political mark as a ‘street-fighter ’, has not hit the streets often. On a few occasions she tried to do so the response has been tepid.

Mr. Adhikari cited the two instances of Baruipur, where a minor was raped and killed, and Halisahar, where a Trinamool supporter was killed in police custody and said that she failed at both the occasions.

However, the remark to keep the Trinamool Congress chairperson confined to social media has larger ramifications. Despite her party facing the biggest existential crisis – with majority of MPs and MLAs switching sides and warming up to the BJP, Mamata Banerjee remains the only leader to take on the might of the BJP which has 207 MLAs in a 294 member house.

Over the past few years, the politics in West Bengal has been hinged on a contest between an ageing leader who wants to pass over the baton to her nephew and one of her closest aides turned rival. Suvendu Adhikari has defeated Mamata Banerjee directly in an electoral contest on two occasions — in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly polls by a margin of 1956 votes and in 2026 at Bhabanipur by a margin of 15,065 votes. The 2026 Assembly polls might not be the end of political rivalry, and people of West Bengal may continue to see the two political personalities taking on each other.

There is an enthusiasm among the BJP leadership after coming to power, but the Suvendu Adhikari government is caught in the same policy trap of giving cash doles which had been a hallmark of the Trinamool Congress regime. 

With women protesting the denial of cash incentives under Annapurna Bhandar scheme as promised by the BJP during the election campaign, Mamata Banerjee sees it as an opportunity to revive both her credibility and her party.

There is also unease among the leaders who left Mamata Banerjee to warm up to the BJP, particularly those who are from the minority community, and that can be a silver lining for the Trinamool Congress chairperson. For Suvendu Adhikari, the challenge is how long can they keep the former Chief Minister confined to her residence and social media.