Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that Gujarat police had illegally seized CCTV footage at the Bengal government-owned guest house in New Delhi with the help of Delhi police after the arrest of Trinamul Congress leader Saket Gokhale.

The chief minister directed state chief secretary H.K Dwivedi to take legal steps in case anyone “trespasses” on the Bengal government property in future.

“The Gujarat police with the help of Delhi police had seized the CCTV footage of Banga Bhavan in New Delhi.... I condemn the audacity (of seizing CCTV footage). Banga Bhavan is a property of the Bengal government and I would like to ask the chief secretary to take legal action if anyone enters the premises without permission,” said Mamata while addressing the gathering at a government programme in Murshidabad’s Sagardighi.

“When I go to Delhi, I mostly stay at Abhishek’s (Banerjee) place. But, when I travel alone, I stay there (at Banga Bhavan). Chief Justice, politicians, governors and journalists stay there all the time. Gujarat police have seized all their footage,” she said.

“What do they want to know? Who gave them the right to do this?”

The Gujarat police had arrested Gokhale from Banga Bhavan on December 29. That was the third arrest of the leader from Gujarat in connection with his tweet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Morbi in the western state after a bridge collapse last year. The third arrest happened after he was granted bail by a court twice.

Mamata did not explicitly mention the date on which the CCTV footage had been seized. But she said the incident had taken place after the arrest of Gokhale.

“One of our social workers was arrested by Gujarat Police with the help of Delhi police. He was once arrested at an airport in Rajasthan and he was again arrested at Banga Bhawan even after being granted bail by the court,” said Mamata.

“Ami Bodla nebo na.. kintu ami er bodol korboi (I will not take revenge but will ensure a change),” said Mamata, stressing that no one would be in power forever.

After lashing out at the Gujarat police, Mamata trained her guns at the BJP government at the Centre and accused it of sending teams of officials to Bengal for flimsy reasons.

“If a termite bites BJP leaders, they send central agencies here.... If a firecracker is burst, it sends the NIA. But they don’t send their agencies when any major incident of crime happens in BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh,” she said.

The fact that the trigger behind the tirade against the Centre was the recent Income Tax raids on the homes and offices of Jakir Hossain, Jangipur MLA of Trinamul, became clear shortly as Mamata lent her weight behind the businessman-turned-politician. Although there was no official communication from the IT department, sources in the organisation leaked information that Rs 11 crore had been seized from Hossain’s home and offices.

“The cash that was recovered by the Income Tax department was kept to pay the wages of 20,000 bidi workers and farmers.... Jakir is a businessman and he was targeted as he is a Trinamul leader. I hope he would come clean out of it,” she said.

Mamata also accused the Centre of holding back Rs 6,000 crore meant for the wages of workers under the MGNREGA.

“They intentionally made the people of Bengal suffer as they want to teach me a lesson.... They are targeting Bengal as we raise our voices against them (BJP),” said the chief minister.

Mamata said though the central government had stopped the funds flow to Bengal, the state government created around 10.11 crore mandays for those involved in the scheme.

Erosion of the Ganga, a major problem in Murshidabad and Malda districts, was repeatedly raised in her speech.

“It is the responsibility of the central government to take care of the areas suffering from river erosion. The Delhi government did not release Rs 700 crore, which could have been used to repair the breached embankment of rivers in Murshidabad and Malda,” she added.

Accolades for Arijit

Mamata also praised singer Arijit Singh and said her government would help him set up a medical college and hospital at Jangipur.

“Arijit Singh is a famous singer across the globe. He informed me about his plan to set up a medical college and hospital in Jangipur. The government would extend all types of help.”