Mamata Hits the Streets: TMC Protests Intensify Over ED Raids on I-PAC

KOLKATA — Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, took the fight against the central government to the streets on Friday and organized a massive protest march in Kolkata. The rally is based on a high-profile tussle with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on its most recent raids on the offices of I-PAC, a political consultancy group that handles the election strategy of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The procession was headed by the Chief Minister on his trip between Jadavpur8B Bus Stand to Hazra More, which is a distance of above five kilometres. Banerjee was accompanied by thousands of party workers in accusing the federal government of using federal agencies to loot and plunder the party’s internal election data and candidate lists prior to the upcoming polls in the Assembly.

A Dramatic Showdown

It all began on Thursday when Banerjee appeared unexpectedly on the door of the I-PAC director, Pratik Jain, as the ED was searching the premises. The event was disruptive; the ED accused the Chief Minister and the Kolkata Police Commissioner of forcefully excavating the location of the body to retrieve important documents, including hard disks and sensitive information.

However, Banerjee was not going to give up. In a speech given at the rally, she justified her acts, saying that she was only reclaiming party documents that the agency had no authority to do so. She brought up the question: Should the Home Minister gather my party’s hard disks and candidate lists? With a reference to Union Home Minister Amit Shah as naughty because she claims he instructed the raids.

Escalation in Delhi and Courts

The struggle has spread out of Kolkata. Several high-profile TMC Members of Parliament were also arrested by the police in New Delhi, such as Mahua Moitra and Derek O Brien, as they held a dharna outside the Home Ministry office. Moitra condemned the agency as the Extortion Directorate, which, according to him, conducted the raids as a form of political espionage that was aimed at crippling the campaign of the TMC.

In the meantime, the case has gone to the Calcutta High Court. The ED has petitioned to have a CBI inquiry into what it describes as obstruction never witnessed before by state officials in their investigation. On the other hand, I-PAC has requested the court to stop any misuse and sharing of any already obtained data by the agency.

Political Fallout

The intervention of the Chief Minister has been severely criticised by the opposition. Her actions were referred to by BJP Leader Suvendu Adhikari as goondaism and a failure of constitutional machinery, and she should be arrested because she interfered with a federal probe.

It is said that the raids are connected with a large-scale money-laundering investigation of a case of coal smuggling. Nevertheless, considering the fact that elections are only months away, the TMC also considers the timing to have been a direct effort to tear down their digital and strategic infrastructure.

Banerjee indicated that agitating would continue when the protest ended at HazraMore. She said, I challenge the BJP to fight us democratically and further said, they will not be able to win Bengal by muscle power and agencies.