Beyond TMC Rebellion: Bengal’s Bureaucracy Begins Its Quiet ‘De-Trinamoolisation’

Published 11 June 2026 · local

Beyond TMC Rebellion: Bengal’s Bureaucracy Begins Its Quiet ‘De-Trinamoolisation’ Written By, Last Updated: June 11, 2026, 08:37 IST A senior IPS officer once seen as

Beyond TMC Rebellion: Bengal’s Bureaucracy Begins Its Quiet ‘De-Trinamoolisation’ Written By, Last Updated: June 11, 2026, 08:37 IST A senior IPS officer once seen as Mamata's trusted aide now heads the CID probe into the alleged signature forgery case, including searches at her residence and party offices. Rapid Read Mamata Banerjee with IPS officer Rajeev Kumar (Image: PTI) Yet, away from television cameras and headline-grabbing press conferences, a far more consequential churn appears to be underway. Here a different story is unfolding, not in the party offices but inside government buildings. For context, a senior IPS officer who was appointed Commissioner of Kolkata Police in January by Mamata Banerjee’s government was subsequently moved to lead the CID. Long perceived as one of Mamata Banerjee’s closest and most trusted officers, he now finds himself overseeing the investigation into the alleged signature forgery case. In a development that has drawn public attention, the CID reportedly carried out searches at Banerjee’s residence and party offices while she was in Delhi. In fact, Rajeev Kumar, another officer long considered one of Mamata Banerjee’s closest confidants, appears to have faded from the spotlight since the party’s defeat.

The former Kolkata Police Commissioner was the officer for whom Banerjee famously sat on a dharna during the CBI-CID confrontation, later promoting him to DGP and eventually nominating him to the Rajya Sabha. Yet, in the current political churn, he is nowhere to be seen. Even though he is a retired bureaucrat now and a member of Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha team, Kumar’s absence from the scene raised eyebrows too. In Nabanna, district headquarters and block development offices, the state machinery that once formed the backbone of Trinamool’s governance model is quietly recalibrating itself at multiple levels. The political transition following the party’s defeat in the 2026 assembly election has triggered what many insiders describe as a silent institutional survival exercise, a gradual but unmistakable distancing of sections of the bureaucracy and police administration from the previous regime. Over the past few days, the BJP government has undertaken a significant bureaucratic reshuffle, issuing fresh posting orders for both IPS and IAS officers. One order reassigned 179 IPS officers, ranging from Inspector General (IG)-rank officials to district-level Superintendents of Police (SPs). A separate notification also transferred more than a dozen IAS officers from their current assignments, indicating an extensive overhaul of the administrative apparatus.