The ongoing clash between the CBI and the West Bengal government came to a somewhat close on Tuesday, 5 February, after the Supreme Court in a hearing asked Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to assist the CBI in their investigations into the Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund scams- by meeting the agency in Shillong and answering questions.
The SC bench also said that the CBI could not take any coercive action against Kumar, who they claimed that tampered evidence relating to the scams, including arrest. Following the SC order, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called it a “moral victory”, while the CBI also claimed to be happy with the judgement.
Referring to this judgement, BloombergQuint spoke to Senior Supreme Court advocate Dushyant Dave; BJP Sokesperson Nalin Kohli; Neelanjan Sircar, Assistant Professor, Ashoka University and Senior Visiting Fellow, Centre for Policy Research.
The main points discussed in the debate centred around if this was just a pause in the battle for Bengal, the national implications of the crisis and who really won after the SC order.
‘Balanced Order’
Responding to a question regarding the judgement, Dave called it a “balanced order”. Stating that it had knocked sense into both the central government and the West Bengal government, he added that one of its most important outcomes- was that the allegations against Kumar were found to be “completely absurd”.
However, looking back at the crisis which stirred in Kolkata on Sunday, 3 February, after a group of CBI officials turned up unannounced at Kumar’s residence- leading to public outrage and Mamata announcing her ‘Save the Constitution’ dharna- many began to call the CBI action an “attack on federalism” from the Narendra Modi-led government, which was “misusing the CBI”.
‘CBI Has No Credibility Anymore’
When asked about the CBI action being seen as an “attack on federalism” both Dave and Neelanjan Sircar claimed that the central investigating agency had no credibility left.
“You can take a look at past history or even recently -- where the CBI has been called out for its involvement with political manipulation. The CBI to the nation as a whole looks incompetent. I think Modi took a gamble on the CBI and it didn’t pan out.Neelanjan Sircar to BloombergQuint
Explaining this point further, Sarkar said that the “misuse” of the CBI stemmed from the Modi government’s plan to destroy the agency, so that it would not challenge or work against the BJP government in the future- especially in light of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
However, responding to this, BJP Spokesperson Nalin Kohli stated that the whole matter had been blown out of proportion and that the CBI had reached the police commissioner’s house under orders from the Supreme Court and not the centre.
(With inputs from BloombergQuint)
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