The Opposition tended to find their answers to the alleged police inability to arrest Trinamool Congress toughie Shahjahan Sheikh even four days after his supporters openly challenged the writ of the Indian state by mounting a deadly attack on Enforcement Directorate officials and accompanying central force personnel.
While Banerjee attacked the agencies for arresting her comrades as a part of a definite political conspiracy scripted by the TMC, her senior Cabinet colleague Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said the ED could face more such attacks as there would now be mass upheaval against central agencies in Bengal.
Launching a frontal attack on the central agencies and the BJP, the Chief Minister on Tuesday said that they were creating for scripting plays to arrest TMC leaders ahead of the elections to anable the saffron outfit to score goals in undefended fields.
Stopping short of naming any person or outfit she said, “since the beginning you have been arresting our people in connection with chit fund, coal, cattle, sand and other scams but you never returned a single penny to people who were affected in the ponzi scam ...
“Instead helping the people you are targeting the TMC leaders so as to vacate the field before the elections in order to help the BJP win elections... but it is not that easy as we will not give up an inch without fight ... We will make you repent for your misadventure in Bengal.”
On inauguration of Ram Temple she said it was an “election gimmick by the BJP ahead of polls which will not work.”
She said, “those who are doing it may do it but they don’t have right to belittle other religions.”
On whether she would go to Ayodhya she said, “I have many important works to do... Religion is my personal affair,” adding, “till I am there I will not allow the people to be divided in the name of religion or CAA and NRC.”
While Banerjee made her remarks from an administrative meeting at Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas her Parliamentary Affairs Minister made even more dangerous and provocative remark when in an apparent reference to Sandeskhali attack, “we have seen an explosion of public grievances in one place... now there will be mass upheaval like this in other parts of Bengal too ... Wherever the EF will go they will face upheaval.”
Attacking the agencies for their partisan ways he said, “There have been scams worth Rs 7.5 lakh crore in BJP ruled India but not a single BJP leader had been touched ... Nothing has been done to leaders like Hemanta Biswasharma but here they are targeting small fried like Shahjahan ... The public outrage was because of this partisan act of the ED ... and if this continues then there will be more such Jan Bisforan (mass explosion) where ever the ED will go in Bengal.
Already two ministers, a number of MLAs and a bunch of senio government functionaries were presently in jail for their alleged involvement in plethora of scams.
He was promptly supported by his party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh who said Chattopadhyay was only making demand for natural justice.
The BJP leaders like Dilip Ghosh however said that cognizance should be taken on Chattopadhyay’s statements because they amounted to giving provocation to the people.