NCPI, new home for TMC rebels, in the dark

Fortune favours the bold; sometimes it helps being just the opposite. Just ask the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), which is now the largest party by MPs in West Bengal – if, that is, you can figure out who is speaking for it.

With 20 breakaway rebel MPs of the Trinamool Congress joining it Sunday evening to possibly dodge disqualification, the NCPI sported overnight a buzzing Facebook page. It proclaimed its status as “the largest parliamentary bloc from West Bengal”, and welcomed each of the new joinees citing their “long-term political experience, grassroots contacts and commitment to people”.

However, off social media, it was hard to find anyone among the NCPI office-bearers or workers who could explain how two and two came together to make 20.

State police and central forces were deployed inside and outside the NCPI’s office on Monday. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

Almost hidden behind trees, the two-storey green building in Hatgacha of Howrah district that is the NCPI’s registered office is non-descript but for the banners on its walls and the long list of qualifications of its founders painted on its gates. On Monday, personnel of Central forces and police arrived to keep a watch.

The premises are deserted, and the doors locked from the inside. One half of the gate talks about its founder Uttiya Kundu, describing him as “Editor of Bengali News Paper, Teacher of Mathematics, ISO Auditor, Health Consultant, RHP (IPHT), Yoga Volunteer (YCB), M.Sc. Math (Alison, Ireland), Diploma in Yoga, Diploma in Land Survey”; the other half describes his wife Shewly Kundu, as “Advocate, High Court, Calcutta, M.Sc (Math), ex-MBA, LLM, Diploma in Math (Alison, Ireland), Diploma in Land Survey, Survey Executive for Enumeration”.

A banner hung on the building as well as a prominent graffiti on it says ‘Jago Biswa’, reportedly the name of an NGO run by the Kundus. Another graffiti states ‘Unorganised Women Workers’ Association’.

National Citizens Party of India (NCPI)’s office at Hatgacha in Howrah district. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

A neighbour, Raghunath Das, says he is as surprised as the rest of the state at the NCPI’s burst into the spotlight. “We knew that the Kundus ran an NGO and brought out a publication. They also regularly distributed clothes among the poor. We thought they had some tie-up with governments or other organisations, or where would they get the funds from?”

Locals say the Kundus moved into the building from Nadia around eight years ago. That the building housed a political party only became known when the NCPI put up candidates for the 2023 panchayat elections, Das says. “However, none of them won.”

One of those candidates was Mintu Bera, who owns a barber shop about 2 km away, and contested in the panchayat polls at Duliya. Trimming the hair of a customer, Bera says: “Eleven of us were fielded by the NCPI, for the Duilya and Jhorhat panchayat polls. All of us lost.” Claiming the NCPI was “only helping the TMC”, Bera calls himself “a regular BJP worker” now.

Election Commission records show the NCPI registered with it in 2022, and is a “registered unrecognised political party” or RUPP. On paper, Shewly is NCPI president, Uttiya its vice-president and Shantanu Dey its organisational general secretary.

Ask Shewly about the TMC rebels’ merger with her party and she demurs: “I was the founder-president of the NCPI but I have already resigned from the post. The new president can give the details.” But, she adds, “I don’t know who the new president is.”

On the rapidly changing alliances in Bengal, Shewly adds that for them being with the BJP is not a departure. “We were with the NDA in Tripura.” She attributes her “High Court practice” as reason to distance herself from party work.

Shewly Kundu, former founder-president of NCPI

By Monday evening, Shewly’s phone was out of reach.

Dey, one of the founder-members of the NCPI, says only Shewly as the party president could talk about the merger of the TMC MPs with the party. “We never had any discussion about it” within the party, he says.

Told that Shewly had “resigned”, he says he is only just hearing of it.

However, he welcomes the merger, Dey adds. “It will allow our party to grow and help us work for the country. We support Prime Minister Modi and wish to work as an NDA partner.”

Another general secretary of the NCPI, advocate Dilip Roy, says: “We came to know about the merger from social media. We think that the deal was reached by Shewly Kundu. Those of us who are founder members are talking to each other and will clear our stand soon.”

NCPI youth general secretary Titas Bhattacharya also claims to have been in the dark. “We are taking legal opinion and will publicly announce our stand.”

Dey says the NCPI’s founding motto was to strive for food security, clothes and shelter for all Indians as “a human rights organisation”. “We mainly focused on West Bengal and Tripura. In Tripura, we have around a thousand members, and in Bengal, around 800. We also have members in Assam, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.”

Uttiya could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. But the NCPI sums up his “life philosophy” in Bangla on Facebook: “To stay alive, one feels hungry”; “To sustain that livelihood, you need money”; “To get money, you need support”; “To get support, you need a household”; “As part of society, you need offspring”; “Trying to raise one’s offspring”; “After responsibilities are over, becoming spiritual”; “End of earthly existence – crematorium”.