Kolkata: The Indian National Congress (INC) leaders seem to be divided over their reactions to the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s simultaneous raid and search operations at the office of the India Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and at the residence of I-PAC co-founder Pratik Jain at Loudon Street in Kolkata.
The differences of opinion in the matter are especially evident in the divergent reactions to the matter by a national-level leader of the state and a state-level leader in West Bengal. Senior Congress leader and senior Supreme Court advocate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, issued a statement lambasting the ED for its raids on the I-PAC office and the residence of its co-founder. “ED now raids political consultants because it has failed to raid facts, truth or credibility.
The I-PAC raid in Kolkata is yet another chapter in the BJP‘s playbook of coercion. When democracy is inconvenient, agencies are weaponised,” Singhvi said in his statement. Incidentally, Singvi had represented the Mamata government in several high-profile cases both at the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court.
However, a completely divergent view was expressed by the former state Congress president in West Bengal and the former five-time Congress Lok Sabha member, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who questioned Mamata Banerjee’s anxiety regarding the ED’s actions against I-PAC.
“Why is the Chief Minister having headaches about I-PAC? Surely there is a mystery behind it,” Chowdhury said in his reaction about the ED’s actions and the counter-reactions by the Chief Minister on the matter.
Incidentally, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, also raised the same question on Thursday, after the Chief Minister stormed into the residence of Jain and the I-PAC office, accompanied by senior administrative and police officers, while the ED raids were going on. She reportedly left the place with some files and electronic documents.
“Why is the Chief Minister so worried about the ED raid at the office of a private corporate entity?” Adhikari raised the question on Thursday. I-PAC has been serving as the vote-strategy agency for the Trinamool Congress since 2020.
Eight Trinamool Congress MPs staged a protest on Friday outside the office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital.
The MPs held placards reading, “Bengal rejects Modi-Shah’s dirty politics”, and accused the Centre of targeting the opposition through central agencies. The Trinamool Congress MPs who participated in the dharna were Derek O’Brien, Satabdi Roy, Mahua Moitra, Bapi Haldar, Saket Gokhale, Pratima Mondal, Kirti Azad, and Dr Sharmila Sarkar.
The protest was held ahead of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s rally in Kolkata against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC.
During the demonstration, Trinamool Congress MPs raised slogans and alleged that the BJP-led Centre was misusing investigative agencies to harass opposition parties ahead of elections. Visuals from the site showed MPs holding placards criticising what they described as “dirty politics” being practised by the Modi government. Derek O’Brien and Mahua Moitra were detained by police while protesting outside the Home Minister’s office.
The brief detention took place as security personnel attempted to prevent the protesters from blocking access to the premises. After being detained, Derek O’Brien said, “Why are we being detained? Look at this. You are seeing what is happening with Amit Shah’s Delhi Police. You are seeing what is happening to MPs. All our MPs have been taken into custody.”
The protest follows Enforcement Directorate raids conducted on Thursday at the Kolkata office of I-PAC and the residence of its chief and co-founder, Pratik Jain. During the raids, CM Mamata Banerjee reportedly visited the search locations, accusing the central agency of attempting to “loot” sensitive documents related to the Trinamool Congress.
Acting on a call given by party supremo and CM Mamata Banerjee, leaders and workers of the Trinamool Congress on Thursday evening held protest rallies across the state to condemn the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at the Kolkata office of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its director and co-founder, Pratik Jain.
The ED on Thursday conducted search operations at the Salt Lake Sector V office of I-PAC, which has been working as a political consultancy firm for the Trinamool Congress since 2019. ED teams also searched the Loudon Street residence of Pratik Jain, who is a co-founder and director of I-PAC. Following the searches, CM Mamata Banerjee visited Jain’s residence in central Kolkata.
While leaving the premises, she was seen carrying documents and a laptop, which she said belonged to the Trinamool Congress and were related to the party’s upcoming Assembly elections. Banerjee later went to the I-PAC office in Salt Lake. During her visit, police officials accompanying her were seen removing files and diaries from the office and placing them inside her vehicle.
The West Bengal CM alleged that the ED, under the guise of conducting raids, had ‘looted’ documents related to the party’s election strategy, candidate list, internal data and financial papers.
