Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy on Thursday, 28 May delivered a sweeping indictment of his own party's governance, organisational culture, and handling of public grievances, following the Trinamool Congress's defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections. The veteran parliamentarian — who said he would complete 60 years in politics next year — admitted that the party fundamentally misread the depth of public anger, particularly in the wake of the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder case and mounting concerns over women's safety, corruption, and administrative breakdown.

RG Kar Case: The Writing on the Wall

Roy described the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital as the clearest possible warning signal for the Trinamool leadership. 'Many people, including a few of our party leaders and top leadership of the state police, were involved in hushing up the case,' he stated bluntly.

He argued that the public had sent an unambiguous message, and that the party's failure to heed it made the electoral outcome inevitable. 'A very big message had come from the common people. If we do not pay attention to the warning given by the public, then the result will naturally be what it is now,' he said.

Voter Rights and Electoral Roll Controversy

Roy acknowledged that the party's protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was justified, but conceded that the then-Trinamool government could not deliver relief to affected voters despite approaching the courts. He went further, admitting that the right to vote was effectively denied to citizens in several parts of West Bengal.

'Many people's names, including those of genuine voters, were removed from the voter list. But when people saw that 2.5 lakh central forces were being deployed, they felt that the right to vote — which had been snatched away from people in many places — would finally be restored,' he said. He added that voters seized that moment to register their verdict.

Corruption Given 'Institutional Form'

Roy's most pointed charge was that corruption under Trinamool had ceased to be incidental and had instead become systemic. 'From the panchayat level to the highest level — it became corruption everywhere,' he said, arguing that the party had hollowed out its own political programme in the process.

He noted that public anger intensified as people witnessed the rapid accumulation of wealth among local leaders and middlemen tied to welfare scheme implementation. He also alleged that the government had deliberately suppressed opposition space, creating what he called an attempt at 'Opposition-free rule' — referencing the minimal seat share retained by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the Indian National Congress.

I-PAC's Outsized Role in Party Affairs

Roy alleged that the political consultancy I-PAC, initially brought in for governance planning, gradually expanded its influence into organisational and political decision-making. 'Later, the same people started running the party. They decided who would get nominations, organisational posts, who would be removed or kept in the party, and the I-PAC became the decision makers. That did not happen by itself. Those who brought them gave them such a free hand to do all this,' he alleged.

Welfare Schemes Were Not Enough

While conceding that welfare initiatives such as 'Lakshmir Bhandar' had initially benefited women, Roy argued that dignity and safety ultimately proved to be larger electoral concerns. 'Women wanted safety more than Lakshmir Bhandar,' he said. He added that Bengal's deep cultural identity — as a land that venerates female deities such as Durga and Kali — made crimes against women especially resonant, both emotionally and politically.

Roy closed with a question that frames the party's existential challenge: 'Now, since the Trinamool Congress has been removed from power, the question is, how long will the party survive?' The remark underscores a broader uncertainty about whether the TMC can rebuild credibility in opposition after years of unchallenged dominance.