On the day West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution accusing the Central agencies of harassing and arresting public representatives and leaders of the ruling party, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appeared to be softening her stance on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Participating in a debate on the resolution which was tabled under Rule 169 of the House, Ms. Banerjee on Monday said she does not believe that the Prime Minister was behind excesses of Central agencies in the State.
The Chief Minister instead blamed a section of BJP leaders, particularly leaders from the State, for misusing the Central agencies to serve their interests.
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Over the past few months, Ms. Banerjee has refrained from personally targeting the PM. During the party’s Martyrs’ Day rally on July 21, there was no mention of the Prime Minister and she met him in the first week of August seeking the release of Central funds to the State.
Recently Ms. Banerjee’s remarks that “all in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are not bad” also generated buzz in the political circles.
Meanwhile, in the Assembly, the Chief Minister said that if there are raids at the houses of BJP leaders then there would be mountains of cash recovered. “We are not against Central agencies but we want CBI and ED to be impartial,” she said.
The resolution tabled by MLAs of the ruling party Nirmal Ghosh and Tapas Roy accused the federal investigative agencies of not being impartial in their probe and alleged the agencies were creating an environment of fear by targeting only the legislators and leaders of the State’s ruling party over the past few years.
The resolution comes at a time when the agencies are probing several cases in the State involving senior leaders of the Trinamool. Two party heavyweights, Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal, are behind bars for their alleged involvement in scams.
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said that the resolution against the Central agencies was “completely illegal.” Mr. Adhikari cited the Supreme Court order on July 27 where the apex court upheld the core amendments made to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which give the ED virtually unbridled powers of summons.
The BJP members sought voting on the resolution, after which it was passed with 189 voting in favour of it and 64 legislators voting against it.
During the proceedings in the Assembly, the Chief Minister greeted BJP MLAs including the Leader of Opposition who stood up, acknowledged and greeted her in return.
In the past, the Trinamool government had also passed resolutions against CAA, NRC and extension of territorial jurisdiction of the BSF in the State Assembly.
