Mamata Banerjee Hand-Drew Party Symbol. It’s Now Tied To An Indira Gandhi Case

Two flowers. One stem, growing from the same root. Unity was the idea, and Mamata Banerjee drew the symbol ‘Jora Ghas Phool’ by hand for the All India Trinamool Congress she founded in 1998. She had split from the grand old Congress to launch it.

At 11:36 pm on Thursday, 28 years later, her camp emailed the Election Commission a list picking new names for her faction, symbols from a catalogue. The group of “rebels” did the same. This came after the Election Commission did what arbiters usually do when two claimants fight over one heirloom. It has locked the heirloom away until a final call.