LESS than a day after the otherwise obscure Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) shot to national prominence following the merger of 20 rebel TMC MPs with the organisation, it took to social media on Monday to claim it was the “largest parliamentary bloc from West Bengal”. An address of the Tripura-based registered unrecognised party was located in the Sankrail area of Howrah district, with the property being owned by one Uttiya Kundu and his wife, Shewly, who, local residents said, had migrated to the area from Nadia district around eight years ago. A significant contingent of central paramilitary forces was found deployed outside the property since Monday morning. “With 20 Lok Sabha seats, NCPI emerges as the largest parliamentary force from West Bengal, shaping the State’s voice at the national level,” the party said in a social media post. “The numbers speak for themselves. Leadership, representation, and the mandate of the people continue to define the future of West Bengal and India,” the post added. A graphic representation of the division of MPs from West Bengal’s total Lok Sabha strength of 42 -- with NCPI currently having 20 Seats, BJP 12 seats, TMC eight and Congress one -- was posted to back that claim. The party, in its social media posts, separately welcomed all 20 rebel TMC MPs with an accompanying message that their “long-term political experience, grassroots contacts and commitment to people would strengthen the party and make it prosperous”. A graffiti of ‘Jago Biswa’ was seen prominently splashed across one of the walls of the building, which the party said was its registered address in the State. A wall graffiti stating ‘Unorganised Women Workers’ Association’ was also found displayed on one of its walls.

 

On the property’s main gate, a signage qualified Uttiya Kundu as an “Editor of a Bengali newspaper, a Maths teacher, an auditor, health consultant, and yoga volunteer”. The signage went on to qualify Shewly Kundu as an “advocate at Calcutta High Court”. The couple claimed to be holding “diploma in land survey”, with Shewly calling herself an “executive for enumeration”. Local residents said the couple runs an NGO from the property, offering training to workers of self-help groups. The party had also fielded a handful of candidates in the 2023 panchayat elections in the State, all of whom had lost. Meanwhile, in North 24 Parganas district, Santanu Dey, who claimed to be one of the NCPI’s founder members and the party’s national organising secretary, said he was happy at the development. “This will allow our party to grow and help us to work for the country. We support PM Modi and wish to work as an NDA partner. I will go to Delhi if Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar invites me for talks and we can then address the press together,” he said. From Rs 75 bank balance to potential NDA heavyweight: The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) had just Rs 75 left in cash as its closing balance at the end of the financial year 2022-23.

 

The figure appears in the annual auditor's report submitted by the party to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for 2022-23, offering a snapshot of a little-known outfit that has now unexpectedly entered the national political conversation. The NCPI registered itself as a political party in January 2023, with a building in Sankarail in West Bengal's Howrah district as its address in the ECI records. Senior NCPI leader questions merger with rebel TMC MPs, says party leaders were not consulted: A day after 20 rebel TMC MPs announced their merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a senior functionary of the outfit questioned the decision, claiming the party leadership had never been consulted on the move and that such a decision could not be taken unilaterally. NCPI national secretary Shantanu Dey said the party president had not discussed any merger proposal with other office-bearers and suggested that the decision lacked organisational approval. “The party president never spoke about the merger within the party. Such decisions cannot be taken by himself,” Dey told television channels, indicating possible differences within the organisation over the dramatic political development that has thrust the obscure party into the national spotlight. Dey also said the NCPI’s political activities were largely confined to Tripura and that the party had never been an active force in West Bengal.