Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is set to lead a protest rally in Kolkata on Friday, a day after a dramatic confrontation with the Enforcement Directorate during searches at the office and residence of political consultancy firm I-PAC, an episode that has triggered a fresh political storm ahead of the state Assembly elections.
The Trinamool Congress supremo has announced that the rally will be held from Jadavpur’s 8B bus stand to Hazra Crossing, spanning over five kilometres. She has appealed to party workers and citizens to participate, describing the demonstration as a protest against what she alleges is the misuse of central agencies to target her party.
Tensions escalated on Thursday when Banerjee reached the residence of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain while the ED was conducting searches in connection with a money laundering investigation. Conflicting accounts have since emerged, with the central agency claiming that the chief minister interfered with the operation, while Banerjee alleged that the ED attempted to seize Trinamool Congress documents, hard disks and political data.
Defending her intervention, Banerjee said she acted to prevent the alleged removal of sensitive party material, including information related to electoral strategy and voter lists. She argued that such actions amounted to political harassment, particularly with Assembly polls expected in the coming months.
Visuals from the scene showed heightened tension, with media presence and confusion as Banerjee visited both the office and residence linked to I-PAC. The chief minister later claimed that the searches were aimed at accessing the party’s organisational data, including details connected to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
The ED searches are part of an investigation linked to an alleged multi-crore coal pilferage case. Banerjee, however, has asserted that the timing of the raids reflects a pattern of central agencies acting against opposition parties before elections.
Sharpening her attack on the Centre, Banerjee accused the Union government of political vendetta and referred to Union Home Minister Amit Shah as “naughty”, alleging that investigative agencies were being used to intimidate rivals. She urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rein in his minister and challenged the BJP to defeat her party through democratic means rather than through enforcement actions.
In a statement, the ED alleged that Banerjee entered Jain’s residence and took away key evidence including physical documents, electronic devices.
Later in the day, the ED moved the the Calcutta High Court alleging interference in its investigation, while I-PAC challenged the legality of the searches. Justice Suvra Ghosh, before whom the matters were mentioned, is likely to take them up for hearing on Friday.
