The Opposition on Tuesday came down heavily on the Trinamool Congress for giving a hero’s welcome to Birbhum strongman Anubrata Mondal on his return to Bolpur from Tihar jail on bail.
The BJP, the CPM and the Congress accused Anubrata of fostering a culture of threat and suppression of dissent and engaging in financial corruption. They said his bail was part of the judicial process and condemned the ruling party for falsely portraying it as a clean chit.
“Anyone can get bail. Our judicial system takes a bit of time. Everyone knows the extent of the corruption and the amount of property involved. Punishment will come at the right time. Many people have gone to jail. The trial process takes a long time,” former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said.
Anubrata was granted bail on Friday in a money-laundering case related to cattle smuggling filed by the Enforcement Directorate. Though the Supreme Court had granted him bail in July in a separate cattle-smuggling case investigated by the CBI, Anubrata had to stay in jail because of the parallel case registered by the ED.
CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty saw a “deepnexus between Kalighat and Trinamool’s Birbhum strongman” in the chief minister’s trip to Birbhum on the day of Anubrata’s return.
“The chief minister termed him a ‘hero’ and the ministers compared him to a ‘tiger’. Now the chief minister has gone to Bolpur on the same day when Anubrata Mondal is returning home. Is this a setting? We don’t know but we cannot rule out the possibility,” Chakraborty said. “Everyone knows that he was responsible for all kinds of threat culture in Birbhum. The atrocities will resume with his return.”
The Congress alleged that through the felicitation, the Trinamool wanted to tell Anubrata that the party was with him. “Despite knowing Anubrata’s background, the Trinamool went out of its way to tell him that the party is with him and he should start working like before,” Congress leader Soumya Aich Roy said.
BJP chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said: “We all know that he is an established criminal. Even then the ruling party is euphoric about his return. It is audacious for the party to do that.”