Forty-eight hours after a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was attacked in Purba Medinipur district’s Bhupatinagar when they went there to investigate a 2022 bomb blast case, the Trinamool Congress on Monday launched a multi-pronged attack on Central agencies alleging that the ruling BJP was using them for political purposes ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The NIA is probing a 2022 bomb blast case in a Trinamool leader’s house in which three people were killed. While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attacked the BJP and the law enforcement agencies during her election meeting in Bankura, in Delhi, a 10-member team of Trinamool leaders met the full bench of the Election Commission to demand that that the chiefs of the ED, CBI, Income Tax, and NIA be changed immediately.
While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned the Prime Minister against “using Central agencies for political gains” during her campaign speech, the party despatched its spokesperson Kunal Ghosh to stand by the families of Trinamool Congress leaders, Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana, who were arrested by the NIA. After the meeting, the team sat on dharna outside the Commission office and were finally removed by force by Delhi police.
Addressing an election meeting in Bankura, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned the Central agencies against arresting her party leaders. “If you arrest our leaders, their wives will hit the streets in protest. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has threatened to arrest our party leaders after the election results are announced. He has said that after June 4, he will arrest everybody. Are these words that a Prime Minister should utter?” she asked. “I want to say that do not try to terrorise us. Do not forget that we are Royal Bengal tigers.
Remember a wounded Royal Bengal tiger is very dangerous,” she warned.
In Bhupatinagar, Kunal Ghosh advised Trinamool Congress supporters to blow conch shells to inform others if any Central agencies came to raid them. He told the women to gherao and detain such raiding parties till such time that the police came.
In New Delhi, a party delegation met the full bench of the poll panel and demanded that the chiefs of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Income Tax Department be changed.
Trinamool Congress leaders including Derek O’Brien, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale, Sagarika Ghose, Santanu Sen, Nadimul Haque and Vivek Gupta, were part of the delegation which appealed to the poll body to create a level-playing field for all political parties before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The party delegation alleged that the Central probe agencies have been targeting Opposition parties at the behest of the BJP-led Centre. “The BJP is misusing Central agencies against us. The way NIA, ED and CBI are working and targeting TMC leaders is shameful. We would request the EC to ensure a level playing field for all political parties,” Sen said, moments before a police contingent removed the leaders who had squatted in front of the Election Commission office. “We shall sit on a 24-dharna right here till such time that the Commission acts on our request,” Dola Sen said. Trinamool leaders refused to lift their dharna despite entreaties by Delhi Police officers forcing them to seek reinforcements and remove the leaders by force.
The NIA, in the meantime, today asked three other local Trinamool leaders to be present at the agency’s Kolkata office for questioning. However, all of them ignored the summons.
The Trinamool Congress also issued a brief statement and said: “The Delhi Police on the orders of HM @AmitShah detained our 10-member delegation who were sitting on a peaceful protest outside of the @ECISVEEP office in Delhi. This a huge stain on our democracy which is on the verge of slipping into a dictatorship under the misgovernance of PM @narendramodi. We urge the ECI to intervene with immediate effect as our democracy faces unthinkable dangers in the hands of the BJP.”
A statement by the NIA said that it “categorically denied any mala fide in its recent actions and refuted the allegations of unlawful actions levelled against it and dismissed the entire controversy as unfortunate”.