TMC to move Supreme Court; accuses BJP of "blatantly conspiring" with central agencies

New Delhi [India], April 9 (ANI): A day after Trinamool Congress leaders were detained for staging a sit-in protest outside the Election Commission's office, the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has written a letter to West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose highlighting a "grave state of affairs" ahead of the Lok Sabha elections while accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of "blatantly conspiring" with the central agencies against the opposition.
Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, including Saurabh Bharadwaj and Dilip Pandey, met with the protesting TMC leaders on Tuesday, at the police station to lend their support.
Meanwhile, TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that they would move to the Supreme Court.
"We will definitely go (to the Supreme Court). We want to tell those who are in favour of NIA and saying that no meeting took place, that the BJP guy who had gone to the NIA officer's house had a packet in his hand and when he left, he did not have the packet in hand. We will also give high-quality footage of this to the Supreme Court. Whatever he has to say, he can say it in the court," Abhishek Banerjee said.
TMC MP Dola Sen said that they had gone to the Election Commission and requested the EC to take a neutral role and change the chiefs of NIA, ED, CBI, and Income Tax to provide a "level playing field."
"We had gone there to request the Election Commission to meet the victims of the Jalpaiguri storm to provide any possible help to them. We also requested the EC to take a neutral role and change the chiefs of NIA, ED, CBI, and Income Tax to provide a level playing field. We were staging a peaceful protest during which the Delhi Police detained us. We were later released without any charges. As promised, we continued our protest for 24 hours," she said.
The ruling party in West Bengal has further alleged that the Election Commission of India is "acting like a silent referee." The letter, written by TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee has highlighted five issues.
"We wish to bring to your attention a grave state of affairs, wherein, the very idea of a 'free and fair democracy' has been severely compromised by the ruling dispensation at the Centre. BJP has mobilized various Central departments/agencies like the NIA. ED, CBI and IT to launch an onslaught against all opposition political parties. including AITC," the letter stated.
"These Central departments/agencies are illegally executing the diktats of BJP to trample the members of AITC in a bid to keep them away from performing their political functions during the ensuing General Elections to the House of the People, 2024. At the same time, the ECI which is supposed to protect and uphold the democratic rights of the people, is acting like a silent referee which is only looking the other way," it added.
TMC further alleged that 'backroom talks' were held between BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari and NIA Superintendent of Police, Dhan Ram Singh to "illegally" target the TMC members. The party levelled the allegations citing the visitor's register of Singh's building complex. It also alleged some monetary considerations were paid to Singh.
The party also stated that it has written multiple letters to the Election Commission of India (ECI) against the "illegal actions" by the central agencies who are "wreaking havoc" in the state, however, all the requests have "fallen on deaf ears" and the ECI has not taken any action.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla launched a scathing attack on Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders and said that the political slogan 'Ma Mati Manush' coined by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had become 'save the terrorists, save the corrupt and save the rapists.'
Reacting to the TMC's post on "the murder of democracy" on X, Shehzad Poonawalla said that the death of democracy happens when central agencies such as the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) are attacked in broad daylight.
Poonawalla said, "Death of democracy happens when a team of ED goes to catch people involved in corruption and instead gets attacked in broad daylight. It happens when the NIA team goes to investigate terrorism and instead gets attacked in daylight. It happens when instead of providing justice to the victims of the Sandeshkhali incident, Shahjahan Sheikh gets support from the state government."
"The way rapes and terrorism are defended--this is the definition of the death of democracy. Not just me, but Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, who is a partner of the INDI Alliance, has also said this. This is what the leaders of the left party are also saying," he added.
The BJP spokesperson further questioned and said, "The main question that arises is what the TMC is protesting against at the EC. The action is being taken against the corrupt, against the terrorists, and against the anti-national elements. Why is TMC protecting them?
"The political slogan 'Ma Mati Manush' coined by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has become 'save the terrorists, save the corrupt and save the rapists under the TMC governance," he added.
This comes after TMC said in a post on X, "What we witnessed today was the murder of democracy! Led by Abhishek Banerjee, a 12-member delegation will meet the Governor at 9 PM tonight. They will reach the North Gate of Raj Bhavan by 8:55 p.m. They will appraise him about the heavy-handed treatment that was meted out to our delegation by Amit Shah's Delhi Police."
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders who were earlier detained for protesting outside the Election Commission of India (ECI) sat inside the premises of Mandir Marg Police Station, pressing their demands to change the chiefs of the CBI, NIA, ED and Income Tax Department.
As per Delhi police, the 10-member delegation of Trinamool Congress leaders were detained on Monday following a protest outside the Election Commission of India over their demands in the national capital.
The opposition leaders were brought to Mandir Marg Police Station partway through their agitation and later asked to leave at night but the delegation did not leave and instead sat inside the premises all through the night.
Those who staged the protest included five TMC MPs Derek O'Brien, Mohammad Nadimul Haq, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghosh.
At the same time, three former MPs, Arpita Ghosh, Shantanu Sen and Abir Ranjan Biswas, were present.
Apart from this, MLA Vivek Gupta and TMC youth leader Sudeep Raha were also protesting
The 10-member delegation went to the Election Commission's office on Monday and submitted a memorandum highlighting that "BJP and NIA have been working hand-in-glove to selectively target and harass our party workers."
TMC urged the poll body to change the chiefs of the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, Income Tax Department and National Investigation Agency. (ANI)