# TMC Turns 28, and for the First Time Ever Its July 21 Rally Splits Into Three Rival Events

> For the first time since its founding 28 years ago, the Trinamool Congress has split into three factions, fracturing its annual July 21 Shaheed Diwas rally. After Kolkata Police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163, the Calcutta High Court allowed Mamata Banerjee's faction a capped gathering near Birla Planetarium.

**Type:** article · **Category:** Politics · **Published:** 2026-07-19 · **Source:** TrendKia
**Canonical:** https://trendkia.com/en/politics/tmc-ki-sthapana-ke-28-sala-bada-pahali-bara-tina-guton-men-bnta-shahida-divasa-haikorta-ne-taya-kin-madhya-kolkata-ki-simaen-8684 · **Language:** English
**Tags:** Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee, Shaheed Diwas, Calcutta High Court, West Bengal Politics, Abhishek Banerjee, NCPI

Every July 21, the Trinamool Congress turns its Shaheed Diwas rally into a show of strength in Kolkata, but this year's gathering looks nothing like it used to. Twenty-eight years after the party's founding, the Trinamool Congress has split into three rival camps for the first time, and each is staking its own claim to the party's legacy with a separate event.

## A party cut into three
The first crack appeared within weeks of the Trinamool Congress losing the assembly election in May. Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee took more than 60 of the party's 80 MLAs with him to form a breakaway group, calling it the "real TMC." A second split followed when 20 of the party's 29 Lok Sabha MPs crossed over to a lesser known outfit, the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). The crisis deepened further when four of the party's Rajya Sabha MPs resigned, three of whom later joined the BJP.

## The "Kalighat Trinamool" tag
Amid this churn, the original faction led by Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee has come to be known in political circles as "Kalighat Trinamool." The nickname traces back to the party founder's residence in Kalighat, in south Kolkata, long seen as the nerve centre of the organisation's politics.

## Police invoke Section 163
The fallout from Trinamool's 15-year-old state government coming to an end has reshaped Bengal's political landscape, and it has also changed how Shaheed Diwas is being observed this year. For close to two decades, Mamata Banerjee held her annual rally on Central Avenue in central Kolkata, but no event will take place there this time. Kolkata Police Commissioner and Executive Magistrate Ajoy Nanda has imposed prohibitory orders across several parts of central Kolkata, including Central Avenue. The restriction was issued under Section 163, a provision of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. The order took effect on July 2 and will remain in force until August 30. Police cited intelligence inputs warning that political gatherings in these areas could trigger violence and disturb law and order.

## High Court steps in
The Mamata faction challenged the restriction, and the Calcutta High Court has since given it limited relief. Justice Saugata Bhattacharya ruled that the group may hold its Shaheed Diwas event near Birla Planetarium in central Kolkata between noon and 3 pm, capped at 2,500 people. The court also directed police to put tight security arrangements in place for the gathering.

## Three more rallies on the same day
Ritabrata Banerjee's faction will hold its own event the same day at Mayo Road, in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. The state Congress, meanwhile, will gather near Shaheed Minar in the city. The NCPI has also announced that it will observe Shaheed Diwas, though it is yet to finalise a venue. For the first time, West Bengal will see four separate events on a single day, each claiming a piece of the Trinamool Congress's legacy.

## What this means for you
This story does not directly hit anyone's wallet, but it has real practical implications for West Bengal's politics and for people living in central Kolkata.

- **Across India:** A split of this scale inside a major party signals that alliances and political equations could shift quickly ahead of future elections.
- **In Kolkata:** The Section 163 prohibitory orders in force from July 2 to August 30 could affect movement and public gatherings in several central Kolkata neighbourhoods, especially on July 21 when four separate events unfold at once.

## Questions & Answers

### 1. Why did the TMC split into three factions?
After the party lost the May assembly election, a faction formed under Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, and later 20 Lok Sabha MPs moved to the NCPI, splitting the party into three groups.

### 2. Why won't there be an event on Central Avenue this year?
Kolkata Police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 across Central Avenue and several other central Kolkata areas, effective from July 2 to August 30.

### 3. Where was Mamata Banerjee's faction allowed to hold its event?
The Calcutta High Court permitted it near Birla Planetarium between noon and 3 pm, capped at 2,500 people.

### 4. Where will Ritabrata Banerjee's faction hold its event?
His faction will hold its event the same day at Mayo Road, in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue.

### 5. What are the state Congress and NCPI doing?
The state Congress will gather near Shaheed Minar, while the NCPI has announced it will observe Shaheed Diwas but hasn't finalised a venue yet.

### 6. What is Mamata Banerjee's faction now called?
It is referred to in political circles as "Kalighat Trinamool."

### 7. What happened with the Rajya Sabha MPs?
Four Rajya Sabha MPs resigned from the TMC, and three of them later joined the BJP.

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