Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday declared his commitment to attend the party’s Delhi protest programmes next week and announced his decision against showing up for interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its Calcutta office on Tuesday.

This is the second time this year that Abhishek has refused to comply with an ED summons on account of a prior-announced political programme. On June 13, he was asked by the ED to appear before it, while he was still busy with the Trinamuley Nabo Jowar mass connect event, and he had written to them seeking another date.

“The fight against the deprivation of WB and its rightful dues shall persist regardless of the obstacles. No force on Earth can hinder my dedication to fight for the people of WB and their fundamental rights,” the Diamond Harbour MP wrote on X at 11.18am on Friday.

“I’ll b in Delhi joining the protest on Oct 2nd & 3rd,” he added. “STOP ME IF U CAN!”

This was the fourth time in a little over four months he was issued summons by a central probe agency on days of prior-announced political programmes.

This year, he appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Calcutta for nine hours during the Trinamuley Nabo Jowar mass outreach campaign that he was spearheading, on May 20. On September 13, he sat before the ED for nine hours, giving the anti-BJP national bloc INDIA coordination committee’s inaugural meeting a miss.

Since Abhishek was issued the latest summons by the ED on Thursday – asking him to show up at 10.30am on Tuesday -- sources close to him had made it clear that there was no question of him giving the Delhi programmes a miss.

“He is fearless and in the right, so he had no objection to complying with the
ED summons. He has done it on so many occasions in the past, and his spine remains ramrod straight,” said a Trinamul MP.