'Upholding my uncle’s legacy': TMC MP Mausam Benazir Noor rejoins Congress
Telegraph | 4 January 2026
Mausam Benazir Noor, the Malda-based Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP, rejoined the Congress on Saturday, seven years after she had left the party in favour of Bengal’s ruling dispensation in January 2019.
Her departure from Trinamool appeared a manifestation of the growing disenchantment among some in the party with its recent political positioning.
With Assembly elections approaching, Trinamool has increasingly focused on the Hindu electorate to try and cushion any damage from the BJP’s strategy of
aggressive polarisation.
Noor was formally inducted into the Congress at the party headquarters in New Delhi, and in the presence of senior leaders.
She had no harsh words for the party she had just quit, nor did Trinamool say anything negative about her, the mutual restraint leaving many intrigued.
Noor said she was returning to the Congress to uphold the legacy of her uncle and former Congress Union minister A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury.
Noor said: “My uncle always believed in the Congress ideology of secularism, development and peace. Today, I have rejoined the Congress to work along these ideologies.”
“I will work as a member of the Congress family to strengthen the party while upholding my uncle’s legacy.”
A senior Trinamool leader said the “top” leadership had asked party spokespersons not to say anything critical of Noor.
Political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty suggested that Noor’s reticence stemmed from “the Congress’s national-level equations with Trinamool”.
He said Trinamool had avoided commenting since Noor’s exit had come as a sudden shock to the party.
Noor said she had submitted her resignation to Trinamool supreme leader and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“I sent in my resignation today, and I shall resign from the Rajya Sabha on Monday,” she said.
The senior leaders at the event reaffirmed the Congress’s commitment to secularism, a theme the party has been emphasising to counter Trinamool’s tilt towards “temple politics” and Humayan Kabir’s efforts to build a Babri Masjid in minority-dominated Murshidabad.
The state government’s recent initiatives such as building a Jagannath temple in Digha and a Durga Angan in New Town, and the upcoming foundation stone ceremony for a Mahakal temple in Siliguri, are being widely seen as a strategy to attract Hindu votes.
“Such moves may have alienated politicians like Mausam Noor, who see the Congress as a more consistent platform for secular politics,” a political observer said.
“The minorities had once been a vote bank for the Congress before a sizeable segment switched its support to Trinamool. The Congress is now eyeing this vote bank.”
He added: “In districts like Malda (Mausam’s home turf), where the Muslim population is around 48 per cent, the Congress now wants to revive its support base with two politically active leaders from the Ghani Khan family on board.”
Isha Khan Choudhury, the sole Congress MP from Bengal, who was elected from Malda Dakshin, is Noor’s cousin.
Addressing the media, Noor said she intended to work closely with Isha and stressed the need for political change in Bengal. “I want a change in Bengal, and that change should begin with me. I will soon launch a campaign. The BJP has always been and will remain our principal political opponent,” she said.
Noor was elected twice to the Lok Sabha, in 2009 and 2014, from Malda Uttar. After she joined Trinamool, she made it to the Rajya Sabha in 2020. Her Upper House tenure was to end this year.
While welcoming Noor back into the party, state Congress president Subhankar Sarkar hinted at more defections in the near future.
“We had earlier opened the windows; now we have opened the doors. What happened today is just the trailer — more is to come,” he said.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said there was “nothing significant” in Noor’s switch in loyalties since “the relationship between the Congress and Trinamool is like that between a mother and a daughter”.
“Besides, the Congress is itself insignificant in Bengal politics. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the only person (in the Congress) who was very vocal against Mamata Banerjee, has been sidelined by the Congress leadership.”