West Bengal chief minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday has challenged the BJP to arrest her amid corruption charges against the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led government.
Her statements come in the backdrop of senior TMC leaders Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal getting arrested in a school jobs scam and alleged cattle smuggling case, respectively.
Furthermore, a PIL has been filed in Calcutta high court by its lawyer and petitioner Arijit Majumdar against the rising assets of the family members of Banerjee after 2011, when the TMC came to power in Bengal. The petitioner has also demanded a probe by the CBI, ED and IT department.
Banerjee was attending a rally of her party’s student wing in Kolkata, where she said that a malicious campaign has been unleashed against her and other TMC veterans such as Kolkata Mayor and state minister Firhad Hakim, and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
“The BJP is branding everybody as thieves. They are campaigning in a way as if all of us in the TMC are thieves and only the BJP and its leaders are holy. Had I not been in politics, I would have torn out their tongues,” she was quoted.
The Bengal chief minister further stated that the BJP is using central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) along with its “ill-gotten money” to oust elected non-saffron party governments across India.
Foreseeing that Hakim might be arrested next as he was recently summoned by the central agencies, Banerjee added, “If he is arrested, you can rest assured it will be a fake case, just to harass him.”
The Bengal chief minister vowed to defeat the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, adding that the party is parking money overseas “through hawala”.
Banerjee said that despite Chatterjee being arrested in the school jobs scam, nothing has been proven yet and a media trial is underway. She added that the BJP is scaring the media, judiciary and political parties, and using Pegasus to take away people’s liberty.
