Kolkata: A parking fee hike in Kolkata has set off another tug of war between the old guard and new within the Trinamool Congress (TMC). The city’s mayor Firhad Hakim, known as a Mamata Banerjee loyalist, rolled back the decision taken by the TMC-run Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), which he heads, after a close aide of the chief minister’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee spoke out against the hike.
The episode is believed to have not gone down well with Hakim, who is also the minister of urban development and municipal affairs, and the seniormost in Mamata’s cabinet. Sources close to him told ThePrint, “The chief minister didn’t give any orders to him to withdraw the notification then why should it be rolled back? This matter is between the CM and him, why should anyone else bring this before the media? It’s an administrative matter and had to be looked into by the administrators.”
While Firhad Hakim is considered one of Mamata’s most trusted lieutenants, TMC leaders have of late been increasingly projecting Abhishek Banerjee as his aunt’s successor — as Mamata with a modern touch.
Even though he has not directly commented on the matter, Hakim, during a public programme in his Vidhan Sabha constituency Sunday, said, “People will come, people will go but development will stay on. The youth today will lead tomorrow, a new Firhad Hakim will be born in Chetla (his constituency).”
On Monday, he was also seen sharing the stage with Mamata at the state secretariat where the chief minister was flagging off newly procured ambulances.
Amid the feud, the Kolkata mayor has received support from unexpected quarters — members of rival parties BJP and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
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A hike, a press conference, and a rollback
On 1 April, the KMC issued a notification to increase the parking fee exponentially — to Rs 10 from the earlier Rs 5 for the first hour for two-wheelers, and Rs 20 instead of Rs 10 for the same duration for four-wheelers. Parking for longer hours would entail a bigger pinch on the pocket — parking a two-wheeler for three hours would cost Rs 40 instead of the earlier Rs 15 (Rs 5 per hour). Meanwhile, parking a four-wheeler for five hours would cost Rs 80 while the charge was around Rs 50 according to the earlier rules.
The decision prompted TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, known to be close to Abhishek Banerjee, to call a press conference on 7 April, where he claimed that the party doesn’t support the parking fee hike. He also alleged that the CM was unaware of the move.
Ghosh further told mediapersons that the party’s second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee has raised the matter with Mamata directly. “She clearly stated that the decision was taken without her knowledge or nod…She doesn’t believe in burdening the common man thus she has asked the mayor to withdraw the notification,” he went on to say.
Later that day, the KMC issued a fresh notification withdrawing the hike. “Parking fees will be collected as per the previous rates until further order,” read the 7 April order copy accessed by ThePrint.
The TMC’s official Twitter handle tweeted a response to the move soon after.
We thank @kmc_kolkata for ROLLING BACK the decision to hike parking charges in Kolkata.
In these tough times, GoWB or KMC will never burden people. Our pro-people stance remains unchanged. Your well-being and welfare will ALWAYS be our FIRST & FOREMOST PRIORITY! https://t.co/Ywv7K8mQrc
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) April 7, 2023
Rival leaders come out in Hakim’s support
The open snub to Firhad Hakim by the new brigade of TMC has also created a stir in political circles.
BJP councillor Sajal Ghosh came out in support of the Kolkata mayor saying that the parking fee in the city hadn’t been increased since 2014 and that the new rates would weed out corruption. “Since 2014, there hasn’t been any parking tender. TMC-backed syndicates have been given contracts and are looting the people. The new e-tender would have eliminated corruption,” he told ThePrint.
CPM leader and former mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya told ThePrint that the civic body has the right to take decisions on its own and is not overseen by the government. “Municipalities have the legal right to make decisions and don’t need any clearance or state government intervention. Kunal Ghosh or Mamata Banerjee cannot poke their nose in affairs related to the civic body.”
Not the first old guard vs new feud
But this isn’t the first time such infighting has come out in the open between the Mamata loyalists and the youth brigade led by the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. In January last year, senior MP Kalyan Banerjee had said that he doesn’t consider anyone except Mamata Banerjee as his leader while criticising Abhishek’s Covid management-related suggestions. The CM soon after ordered her party leaders not to air their differences in public, during a parliamentary party meeting in Kolkata.
There have been other internal feuds too. Last year, another MP, Aparupa Poddar, was rebuked for seeking Kalyan Banerjee’s resignation as the party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha.
In October last year, TMC MLA Tapas Roy had targeted MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, after the BJP appointed former TMC student leader Tamoghna Ghosh — said to be close to Bandyopadhyay — as president of North Kolkata district. Roy had said at the time that he had “no blot” on his career.
“I am not corrupt and have never been to jail. We are not white elephants who praise Amit Shah, PM or Lok Sabha speaker,” he further said, in a jibe seemingly aimed at Bandyopadhyay, who was arrested in 2017 for his alleged connection to a ponzi scheme.
Bandyopadhyay publicly responded to Tapas Roy without taking his name. “I don’t need to meet small BJP leaders. The PM sits opposite me in the Parliament. There is a saying ‘hathi chale bazaar….’ (when the elephant walks in the market, the dogs bark),” he had said at the time.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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