KOLKATA 17 MAY: Unable to beat the Trinamool Congress in the hustings the BJP today took out the last weapon in their quiver and used CBI under it to arrest two ministers and one MLA.
West Bengal ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA Madan Mitra, and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chattopadhyay, who CBI arrested in the Narada bribery case, were granted bail by a sessions court on Monday evening. The detained leaders were produced at Bankshall Court through a virtual hearing from Nizam Palace.
The CBI moved to Kolkata High Court and later in the night Kolkata High Court stayed the order of the bail. The ministers were shifted to Presidency Jail Hospital in the night.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee staged a dharna inside the CBI office at Nizam Palace around 11 am soon after hearing the news of the ministers being arrested by CBI. Banerjee demanded she also is arrested, or otherwise she would not leave the place.
“ Either release them or arrest me.” added Banerjee who was there inside Nizam Palace for six hours .
Soon after the news was reported, TMC supporters gathered outside Hakim’s residence and demanded an immediate release of Hakim. The TMC supporters also gathered at various districts in protest against the arrest of their leaders.
Agitated TMC supporters got into a scuffle with the of Central forces, and they started pelting bricks and stones outside Nizam Palace.
Another group of TMC supporters started staging another separate demonstration outside Raj Bhavan, demanding the Governor’s resignation.
RP Joshi, the CBI spokesperson, said on Monday, “In case related to Narada sting operation, CBI arrested five political leaders from Bengal. Firhad hakim was seen accepting ₹5 lakh. Subrata Mukherjee was seen taking ₹5 lakh Sovan Chatterjee was seen receiving ₹4 lakh. Madan Mitra was seen carrying ₹5 lakh. Under the instruction of Honble High Court of 16 April 2017 the prosecution sanction was granted. The charge-sheet against the five accused has been submitted.”
Priyadarshini Hakim, daughter of Firhad Hakim said “It’s a conspiracy by PM Modi & Amit Shah as they could not win Bengal democratically. Now they want to win it by arresting the most popular leaders & creating conspiracies to pave the way for presidential rule. I would urge every people to remain calm and not to get motivated by their act and unnecessary demonstrate in the road. BJP leaders are trying to make this a political issue if people TMC supporters gather outside the road as lockdown is going on in the state.”
TMC Leaders Opine
According to senior TMC leaders, the way CBI arrested the leaders was illegal. They do not have the court papers with them. When the state government had declared a lockdown to contain the spread of the virus, the CBI’s arrest amid the lockdown is an utter disregard.
Kunal Ghosh, a TMC leader, said, “Why CBI did not arrest other leaders whose names have already been in the charge-sheet, including Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari.”
Further, the TMC leaders claimed that they have faith in the judiciary and are being framed.
What Political Analysts say
Political analysts, however, believe that what the CBI did was a sheer case of political vendetta.
Imankalyan Lahiri, senior political analysts, and Professor of International Relations of JU said, “Why don’t they arrest other 11 other leaders, including Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari, although their names appear in the CBI charge sheet. It was a case of political vendetta. It is a five-year-old case. Why did they take five long years to arrest them.”
Senior political analysts however are of the opinion that the probe agency’s silence on the allegations made against Mukul Roy and Suvendhu Adhikari – the former Trinamool veterans who are now BJP lawmakers; Adhikari had narrowly defeated Banerjee in Nandigram – have once again triggered allegations of a politically motivated probe, at the behest of the BJP, to politically hamstring the Bengal chief minister and her party.
What Matthew Samuel says
According to Samuel, who recorded the purported sting operation said that although it’s a positive direction by CBI to arrest those who have taken bribes, but he was shocked at seeing only selected leaders being detained by the CBI.
Samuel said, “Adhikari also took bribes from me. Why there is such discrimination in arresting the leaders. This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
What the BJP leaders say
The BJP leaders claimed that CBI is doing its duty and it is not a politically motivated organisation. Law will take its course, and those who are guilty should be punished.
Shamik Bhattacharya, BJP leader, said, “We feel that the need of the hour is to control the law and order situation in the state. CBI is not a politically motivated organisation, and they are doing their duty.”
Significantly the arrests of Hakim, Mukherjee, and Mitra were made possible by Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar’s grant of sanction to prosecute the three lawmakers and permission to the CBI to file a charge-sheet against them.