I have a request for my former colleagues in Trinamool Congress whose conscience has suddenly woken up only after the party’s crushing defeat in West Bengal.In 2024, 29 Lok Sabha MPs won their seats on TMC tickets (well done!) and after one death, there were 28 in the TMC till a week ago.Eighty MLAs were also victorious in May 2026, despite a strong anti-TMC wave. Voters sent them to raise questions against the Bharatiya Janata Party – just as, as Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari used to expose issues, one after another, so consistently and so vigorously, against the state government of the Trinamool Congress.My appeal to those who were elected on TMC’s symbol and now wish to join the BJP (or support it from outside) is to first get their voters’ approval. Let them resign and come back joyfully after winning. They may surely be thick with the BJP now, but will those who spent their entire lives fighting communalism find it easy to do such somersaults with their ideals? And will the Muslim MPs be accepted by the BJP? We also hope the pirouetting dancers are be able to convince their electorate about their new-found passion with saffron. The best way to reconcile these contradictions is by contesting again and returning with pride after being re-elected.Only then would the people’s mandate, which is the pillar of democracy, be upheld with honour.This way, they could leave the corrupt TMC with dignity, and the silence the many critics who are alleging underhand deals and huge sums of money.The new BJP government in Bengal has pledged never to compromise with corruption, especially with the TMC, so one has to wonder what on earth is this new development? The BJP has already enough seats, 207, in the West Bengal legislative assembly. The party’s president has made it clear that defectors or ‘rebel’ legislators will not find a place within the BJP.Their doors are shut – as one prominent major TMC defector like Suvendu Adhikari is more than enough for the original loyalists to handle. After all, he was bold enough to take a bribe openly and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party publicised the video of the sting operation again and again – till he joined the BJP and became its battering ram in Bengal. Adhikari thus has the dubious distinction of being the only chief minister to be thus caught red-handed and then elected on the wave of public anger against corruption.TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee arrives at the CID headquarters, in Kolkata, West Bengal, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. Banerjee had successive marathon interrogation sessions with the CID and ED, in connection with the alleged forgery of MLAs’ signatures and the alleged primary school job scam, respectively. Photo: PTI/Manvender Vashist Lav.Despite this ‘No Entry’ sign, one hears that the determined lot of TMC ‘rebels’ are suddenly so wild with anger at Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, that they are quite content to stay put in the BJP’s portico. Surely, they must be terrified about legal action being taken against them or their supporters for many sins of commissions and omissions. If former chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s house could be raided in a month after losing power and her successor get a search and harass party of policemen at 3 am, who is left?A few popularly elected politicians are still honest but their supporters and machinery reek of corruption. Others are boldly corrupt, to the point that one is known as Mr Square Feet because he has charged every builder in terms of how much money he could extract per square feet of built-up properties sold.The BJP has published details of 17 real estate properties allegedly owned by Abhishek Banerjee. His links to these have been denied, of course, but no legal action has been taken to retract this claim.Money is being discovered everywhere – even in bundles eaten by white ants in a college union room under the TMC’s control. There is, therefore, enough reason to be concerned about retribution from the new government and perhaps, hence, this indecent haste.But will the resultant amnesty mean that legislators and elected municipal councillors who are neck-deep in corruption will continue, for instance, to go on constructing more illegal buildings and endangering the lives of local residents?Was the sudden spurt of bulldozer action against a TMC MLA’s illegal construction a few days after the new chief minister was sworn in just a show?It’s just a little more than month after the elections are over and the indelible ink mark on the forefinger on our left hand has not yet worn out – but is the posturing of a righteous war against corruption about to be shelved because the lion’s share of the ‘corrupt’ are switching to the government side?Jawhar Sircar is a former Rajya Sabha MP of the Trinamool Congress. He was earlier secretary, Government of India, and CEO of Prasar Bharati.