Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the BJP was harassing the Trinamul Congress’s all-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in order to teach her a lesson.
“Please try to understand that they are harassing Abhishek only to teach me a lesson…. There is no evidence, no case against him.… If it wasn’t intentional why was he told to appear before the investigators a day after he was interrogated for nine hours? Why was the case shifted from Calcutta to Delhi?” asked Mamata at a workers’ meeting at Chetla in Calcutta where she launched her campaign for the Bhowanipore bypoll scheduled for September 30.
The Enforcement Directorate had questioned the Diamond Harbour MP for nine hours in New Delhi on Monday in connection with a money laundering case over alleged coal pilferage. However, it was not clear if Abhishek was summoned again as claimed by Mamata in her speech
On Wednesday, the chief minister said: “The Trinamul Congress is fighting today. This is why they want to shut us up…. They cannot fight politically.… They have silenced the Congress with agencies. They have silenced Mulayam Singh with agencies. They have silenced Sharad Pawar with agencies.”
“There is no democracy in the country. They have also put the judiciary on the sidelines,” she added.
She repeatedly questioned the “political intention” behind summoning Abhishek to Delhi in spite of the ED having an office in Calcutta.
Then, she tried to explain how Trinamul leaders were facing persecution while BJP leaders like Suvendu Adhikari — albeit without naming him — were being allowed to bypass the law enforcing agencies.
“If you call our people as witnesses, they’ll be interrogated for 10 hours…and if our agencies call your people, in spite of enough evidence, in spite of a murder case, then you will get an order (from the court) that one cannot even lodge an FIR against him. Why? Is he the Lord’s eldest son?” Mamata said.
“Remember the law is the same for all,” she said.
Referring to the chargesheet recently submitted by the ED in connection with the Narada sting case — where Bengal ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Trinamul MLA Madan Mitra and former Calcutta mayor Sovan Chatterjee were named,Mamata asked why BJP leader Adhikari had been spared.
