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Kolkata: Not long ago, Ritabrata Banerjee used to invoke Vladimir Lenin to explain Mamata Banerjee; today, the former communist is spearheading a “legislative revolt” against the very leader he once hailed as the embodiment of mass politics, threatening the biggest split in TMC’s history.

The 46-year-old former CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP, who once declared that he understood Lenin’s famous dictum on mass politics by watching Mamata Banerjee work among millions of people, now finds himself leading the biggest internal rebellion in the TMC’s 28-year history.

With 58 MLAs rallying behind him and his camp staking claim over the TMC legislature party, Ritabrata has suddenly emerged as the unlikely face of a challenge that threatens to reshape Bengal politics and has invited comparisons with Maharashtra leader Eknath Shinde.

For a politician whose career has been marked by dramatic rises, spectacular falls and repeated reinventions, the latest chapter appears almost scripted.

“This is perhaps the only major Bengal politician who has been expelled by both the CPI(M) and the TMC,” quipped a veteran political observer.

Left’s rising star

A suave English-speaking orator with an instinctive grasp of television debate politics, Banerjee first shot into prominence as the general secretary of the Students Federation of India (SFI) in 2008, becoming one of the most recognisable faces of the Left’s young brigade during Mamata Banerjee’s ascent to power.

In 2011, when the Left Front was battling its gravest crisis following its defeat after three decades in office, the CPI(M) fielded the then 31-year-old Ritabrata in the Kolkata South Lok Sabha bypoll against TMC heavyweight Subrata Bakshi, but he lost.

Three years later, in one of the most fiercely contested Rajya Sabha elections in Bengal’s recent history, the CPI(M), aided by Congress legislators and fighting off intense poaching attempts by the then-ruling TMC, sent Ritabrata to the Upper House of Parliament.

His elevation at just 35 triggered murmurs within the West Bengal CPI(M) headquarters.

Many senior leaders were reportedly unconvinced. Yet former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee stood firmly behind the articulate young leader. Within party circles, it was widely believed that Bhattacharjee had developed a special liking for the polished, media-savvy and intellectually agile Banerjee.

He was also considered close to former CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

But the relationship between the party and its rising star soon turned sour.

Fall from grace

Questions were raised over what party colleagues described as a lifestyle unbecoming of a communist leader. Expensive gadgets, an Apple watch and a Mont Blanc pen became subjects of discussion in a party that prided itself on austere politics.

Then came allegations of indiscipline, factionalism and public criticism of senior leaders.

In 2017, Ritabrata was first suspended and later expelled from the CPI(M), ending one of the most promising careers the party had nurtured in a generation.

Political reinvention

His political exile, however, proved brief. During this period, he was reported to be close with BJP leaders like Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijayvargiya.

But after a police case involving a woman, he switched gears and began appearing on platforms sympathetic to the TMC.

Political observers recall his growing proximity to TMC circles after legal troubles and his increasingly vocal support for Mamata Banerjee’s welfare policies.

By 2020, after completion of the Rajya Sabha tenure, he formally joined TMC. The transition was complete.

The man once projected as the Left’s future became a trusted lieutenant within the TMC ecosystem. He was inducted into the party’s core political network, headed its trade union arm INTTUC, enjoyed the confidence of Abhishek Banerjee and was rewarded first with a Rajya Sabha berth in 2024 and later an assembly ticket.

Seeing Lenin in Mamata

Perhaps the most striking symbol of that transformation came in 2024 when Ritabrata publicly compared Mamata Banerjee’s politics to Lenin’s understanding of mass mobilisation.

The former communist argued that Mamata Banerjee’s connect with ordinary people represented the essence of genuine politics and suggested that her welfare-oriented governance reflected the true spirit of pro-poor politics.

Few would have imagined then that the same leader would one day spearhead a rebellion against the very political establishment that had rehabilitated him.

Yet politics rarely travels in straight lines. Those who have watched Banerjee’s career closely say rebellion has been a recurring theme.

His critics describe him as ambitious, restless and unwilling to remain confined within organisational hierarchies. Admirers call him politically agile and intellectually fearless.

Either way, confrontation seems to follow him. Now, having crossed swords with both the CPI(M) and the TMC leaderships, he stands at the centre of a power struggle that could determine the future of Bengal’s principal opposition force.

The parallels with Maharashtra’s 2022 political upheaval are increasingly being drawn in political circles.

Like Eknath Shinde, Ritabrata Banerjee is relying on legislative arithmetic rather than organisational legitimacy. Whether that arithmetic ultimately translates into political authority remains uncertain.

What is certain is that Bengal’s most consequential political rebellion in decades is now being led by a former communist who once saw Lenin in Mamata Banerjee and is today attempting a revolution against her.

From being Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s blue-eyed boy to Mamata Banerjee’s trusted lieutenant and now the face of a rebellion threatening to tear apart the party that rehabilitated him, Ritabrata’s political journey has come full circle.

And once again, he finds himself in a role that has defined much of his political life — that of a rebel challenging his own establishment.