Kolkata: The West Bengal Assembly on Monday became the first state to pass a resolution against the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other federal agencies, saying they were “selective targets” of the state’s ruling party leaders. and are “creating” an atmosphere of fear.
The move comes at a time when the ED and the CBI are probing some high profile cases against Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders.
In the last two months, former West Bengal minister and now suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee was Arrested in an alleged school service recruitment scam, and Trinamool Birbhum district president Anubrata Mandal was Arrested In an alleged animal trafficking investigation.
TMC MLAs Nirmal Ghosh and Tapas Roy moved the proposal under Rule 169 on the table of the state assembly. “The central agencies are selectively targeting the leaders of the ruling party of West Bengal and creating an atmosphere of fear,” the resolution read.
Also highlights resolution to arrest Last year, the CBI’s probe into the ongoing Narada scam of senior Trinamool leaders Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee – soon after the 2021 assembly elections in the state – without the Speaker’s permission, is as is the norm.
“Despite names of BJP leaders involved in chit fund scams, agencies are ignoring and investigating only one side of the matter,” the resolution reads.
It also said that federal agencies are part of a “larger conspiracy to topple democratically elected governments and indulge in hate politics”.
Not the first motion against agencies
This is not the first time that the West Bengal government has moved a resolution against federal agencies. State government in November 2021 passed a resolution Against the increasing jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) on the Indo-Bangladesh border.
ED also did inquiry Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, his wife Rujira Banerjee, his sister-in-law Maneka Gambhir, West Bengal Law Minister Malloy Ghatak and several IPS officers posted in the state are involved in the alleged coal smuggling scam.
Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari ridiculed the proposal and said it had no right. “The Supreme Court has given a clear verdict in favor of ED just a few weeks back. Hence this proposal under Rule 169 is absolutely useless,” the official told the media outside the Assembly.
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