Kolkata: All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee on Monday, January 12, attacked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for its recent raid on the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC here, alleging that the central agency had come to steal information and they are being misused to settle political scores by the BJP.
Addressing a conclave of the party’s “digital warriors” here, Banerjee questioned the intent and logic behind the ED action, and claimed that the agency appeared more interested in “stealing” than carrying out a fair investigation.
He questioned why the ED chose to raid the I-PAC office in West Bengal only, and not in places like “Hyderabad and Delhi”, if the central probe agency was conducting a “real investigation” into the organisation.
The ED conducted a search at the Salt Lake office of I-PAC and the south Kolkata residence of its director Pratik Jain on January 8 as part of its probe into the alleged coal scam-linked money laundering case. Some other locations in the state and Delhi were also raided.
Raising questions over what he called selective targeting by the BJP, the TMC national general secretary said that if the investigation was against the company, the residences of all its directors should have been searched.
“If the case is against one director, why target the Bengal office? This is clearly meant to create an impression that the organisation itself is guilty,” he alleged.
Apart from providing political consultancy to the Trinamool Congress, the I-PAC also manages the party’s IT and media operations.
Addressing the gathering of ‘Ami Banglar Digital Joddha’ (I am Bengal’s digital warrior), the Lok Sabha MP further accused central agencies of following different standards based on political affiliation.
He charged the agencies with turning a blind eye when BJP leaders are allegedly caught taking money, but act swiftly against those who oppose the saffron camp. “The moment such leaders join the BJP, they become as pure as a tulsi leaf. Those who resist are branded thieves,” he claimed.
The ED had approached the Calcutta High Court, seeking a CBI probe against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging that she, with the aid of the police, took away incriminating documents from the agency’s custody during a raid at I-PAC director Pratik Jain’s home. Later, the agency moved the apex court after the high court deferred the hearing.
In his speech, Banerjee also accused the BJP of disrespecting Bengali icons and language, noting that the party’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya had claimed that “Bengali is not a language” and termed it “Bangladeshi”.
He also referred to the 2019 vandalism of Bengali polymath and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s statue during a BJP rally in Kolkata. Vidyasagar also wrote the first Bengali primer, ‘Varna Parichay’.
“Had Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar not been there, neither (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi nor (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah would be able to write their names… Barna Parichay,” the TMC leader said while addressing party supporters.
Banerjee, however, did not elaborate on the connection between the two Gujaratis and the Bengali language.
On the strength of the party’s organisation, Banerjee likened the TMC’s structure to three wings of the defence forces.
He said the TMC has an “Army” of grassroots workers handling booth-level activities, a “Navy” comprising representatives fighting in Parliament and courts, and an “Air Force” of social media volunteers tasked with countering the BJP’s alleged fake narratives.
Banerjee urged the party’s digital workers to rely on logic, data and statistics to challenge misinformation, alleging that the BJP uses social media to present falsehoods as facts.
