West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee vowed to take to streets on Tuesday, after her party MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested by the CBI in connection with his alleged involvement in the Rose Valley chit fund scam.
Moments after Bandyopadhyay was taken into custody by the CBI, whose office the TMC Lok Sabha MP visited earlier on Tuesday to “extend his cooperation” to investigations in the multi-crore chit fund case, violent TMC followers attacked and vandalised the BJP office in Kolkata.
The CRPF was deployed outside the BJP office in Kolkata late on Tuesday evening to control the violent protests.
The CBI had earlier arrested another TMC MP, Tapas Paul, last week for his alleged links to Kolkata-headquartered Rose Valley headed by Gautam Kundu. Kundu has been in judicial custody for several months now.
Several senior TMC MLAs and MPs including Saugat Roy, Dinesh Trivedi and Partha Chatterjee arrived at the CBI office in Kolkata on Tuesday evening.
Kolkata Police Didn’t Send Reinforcements to Stop Violent Protest, BJP Alleges
Accusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of letting loose Trinamool Congress "goons" on BJP workers following arrests of her party MPs on corruption charges, BJP said, on Tuesday, that Banerjee was "scared" of the CBI probe leading to her doorsteps.
BJP's National Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh told reporters that 12 party workers were seriously injured in an attack allegedly by TMC functionaries in Kolkata and charged that a ruling party MLA and councillor led the mob.
Violence has no place in a democracy. It is unfortunate that in Bengal, violence has become a norm since the state government encourages acts of violence. The attack on BJP HQ (headquarters) in Kolkata by the TMC-sponsored goons today is a direct reflection of Mamata Banerjee’s policy of promoting violence in the state. She and the TMC should ponder why two of their elected representatives were arrested by the CBI.
He said the Kolkata Police headquarters is only five minutes away from the BJP office but it did not send reinforcements for almost 30 minutes.
Arrests Will Not Deter Protests Against Demonetisation, Says Didi
The CBI’s “proactive” steps to arrest two TMC MPs – Bandyopadhyay is the TMC’s main leader in the Lok Sabha – comes in the wake of Mamata’s strident opposition to Modi’s controversial demonetisation move. Even before the 50-day period for the promised normalisation of the cash situation across the country ended, Mamata had vowed to continue her opposition.
Mamata said the arrests of her party members will not deter their protests against demonetisation.
If they think we won’t protest (against demonetisation) after the arrest (of TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay), they are wrong. This is an Emergency situation. Amit Shah and Narendra Modi should be arrested, PM Modi does not understand Indian politics. I challenge PM, he cannot do anything, can’t suppress the voice of the people. Trinamool Congress will launch dharnas to protest against Sudip’s arrest from Wednesday.
Banerjee said that the party will go ahead with legal action regarding Bandyopadhyay’s arrest, adding that the party will also stage a protest outside the RBI office of Kolkata and Delhi on 9 January and 10 January respectively.
The investigative agency also interrogated Tapas Paul’s daughter Sohini, who appeared for interrogation in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Paul, who is also a TMC MP, was arrested by the CBI on 30 December. The CBI advocate demanded a four-day-long remand of Pal in the chit fund scam case.
Bandyopadhyay had earlier alleged that the accusation was a result of political vendetta against him and the Trinamool Congress by the central government.
Bandyopadhyay, who was summoned twice in December last year by the CBI, skipped the meeting citing his engagement at the parliamentary session.
According to reports, the Rose Valley scam is seven-times bigger than the Rs 2,460-crore Saradha scam.
Senior TMC leader, Derek O'Brien hinted that BJP was at the helm of the arrests, maintaining that TMC had already predicted in the Parliament that PM Modi and BJP would employ "dirty tricks".
Congress Accuses Modi of Vendetta Politics
The Congress on Tuesday condemned the arrest of Sudip Bandyopadhyay – and accused the Modi government of pursuing vendetta politics. Joining voices with Mamata, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Modi government has been unleashing central agencies on the opposition, which has been opposing the Centre's demonetisation move.
Everyday we see central agencies like the CBI and the ED being pushed and pressurised by none less than the Prime Minister and his office to unleash vendetta against political opponents who are raising their voice. Arrest of Bandyopadhyay is nothing but to unleash vendetta and suppress the voice of Opposition.Randeep Surjewala
"From the day Mamata Banerjee held a joint press conference with (Congress Vice President) Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders, a new wave of vendetta has been unleashed by Modi," said Surjewala. The Congress leader was referring to the December 27 presser by several opposition parties where Banerjee had demanded Modi own up responsibility for demonetisation and quit as Prime Minister.
“Why Not Arrest Babul Supriyo?”
Surjewala also questioned why Union minister Babul Supriyo, who has been accused of being involved in the alleged Rose Valley scam, was not arrested or grilled by the CBI.
Only the other day, when Tapas Paul was arrested, he had named minister Babul Supriyo for his role in the scam. Did Modi arrest Supriyo? Did CBI even call him for questioning?Randeep Surjewala
Supriyo has rubbished Paul's allegations and has threatened to file a defamation case against him.
(With IANS and PTI inputs)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)