A 10-member delegation of the ruling Bengal Trinamool Congress, sitting on a dharna outside the Election Commission headquarters in Delhi, was detained by police today. Footage from the scene showed police pushing, pulling and in some cases physically lifting MPs and loading them into a waiting bus. The MPs, who complained of 'misuse of central agencies' by the BJP-led central government, have demanded that the heads of four central investigation agencies – Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, Income Tax Department and National Investigation Agency – be replace immediately.
After their detention, they said they would continue their 24-hour dharna from the police station, where some of them were placed in protective custody.
The delegation of MPs was led by the party's Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien. Dola Sen, Sagarika Ghosh, Saket Gokhale and Shantanu Sen were among the protesting MPs. The MPs demanded a “level playing field” and had promised a 24-hour sit-in outside the Commission offices.
The police action began an hour after the dharna when leaders rejected repeated requests to leave after meeting polling officials. Footage from the scene showed 63-year-old Mr O'Brien being dragged to the bus by a pair of police officers.
Late in the evening, speaking to reporters at the police station, Mr O'Brien said: “Our 24-hour dharna will continue. My colleague Mohd Nadimul Haque is a diabetic. Dola Sen had hurt her leg and now the injury is gone. ” gotten worse. But we are here to fight.”
The leaders claim that the central agencies are targeting opposition leaders in the run-up to the general elections and that the motive for the arrests by the agencies is purely political.
“In a case filed in 2022, an arrest will be made by the NIA in 2024. Law and order is a state subject and the local police should have been informed… Strictly speaking, the heads of the four central agencies should be replaced,” said Trinamool MP. Dola Sen.
“The way CBI, NIA, ED and Income Tax officials are acting, they appear to be branch members of the BJP. It makes life difficult for the opposition. A member of the BJP met an NIA official at the latter's residence. ” said Sagarika Ghosh.
To give examples, she said on the intervening night of April 5 and 6, raids were carried out without informing local police. “This time, action has been taken by the NIA in a two-year-old case… Houses of women were raided at 3 am. Officials barged into the houses at 3 am, harassing and harassing women” , she says. said.
The MPs, she said, have requested the poll committee to replace the heads of NIA, ED, CBI and income tax.
The protest comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned at a recent election rally in Jalpaiguri that the drive against corruption would gain momentum after June 4, when the election results will be announced. “Shouldn't we end corruption? Shouldn't we send corrupt people to jail? Shouldn't we eradicate TMC corruption? This is a guarantee from Modi,” he had said.
Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her party is not scared even as the BJP uses the agencies for political purposes. “They say Modi ka Guarantee. What is Modi's guarantee? That he will put everyone in jail after June 4,” she claimed.
Later in the evening, senior Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee met Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose.
“Our delegation met with the Election Commission today. The way women MPs were dragged and detained is murder of the republic and the main reason behind this murder is the Election Commission,” he said.
“Why doesn't the Election Commission sack the NIA Director and the NIA SP despite having all the evidence? If West Bengal DG can be changed only on the basis of the complaint of the BJP leaders, why are the NIA director and the NIA SP not removed when we find out the facts?” he added.