 "TMC leaders protest in New Delhi. Photo: PTI")
Even as the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the ruling party in West Bengal kept the heat up in the state by means of protests, demonstrations and rail and road blockades after a senior party leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested by the CBI in connection to the probe on Rose Valley chit fund scam, the party kept up the tempo in New Delhi and Odisha too.
In New Delhi, 32 TMC parliamentarians staged a protest march towards the residence of prime minister Narendra Modi before they were intercepted by the police. Saugata Roy, a TMC parliamentarian who was leading the protest march alleged that the police manhandled some of its Members of Parliament and detained them.
In Odisha, from where the case against Bandyopadhyay originated, the TMC staged a demonstration in front of the CBI office. Bandyopadhyay is being shifted to Odisha from West Bengal for further enquiry into the scam.
In West Bengal, the epicentre of the protests, TMC leaders rallied party members and supporters to stage blockades on key arterial roads in the state’s metropolis as well as on National Highways putting traffic out of gear while train services were disrupted in early hours of the day. It also staged demonstrations in front of the CBI office in Kolkata, where Bandyopadhyay was quizzed and subsequently arrested on Tuesday.
The party’s supremo and West Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee alleged that the centre, led by Modi is coercing the political opposition, which is protesting against the demonetisation move.
“Even if they arrest all our MPs, MLAs, leaders, me and my family as well, we will not stop our opposition to notebandi”, Banerjee said.
Just after the announcement of demonetising Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes on November 8, Banerjee first criticised the move terming it as anti-people and against the interest of the common man and poor.
Shortly, an unofficial united opposition comprising the Congress, TMC, AAP and other parties were formed which mounted their criticism on Modi.
The TMC alleged that the arrest of its party leaders is a ploy to frighten the TMC from opposing demonetisation.
So far, the CBI has arrested five TMC leaders. In the probe on the Saradha chit fund scam, the CBI arrested Srinjoy Bose, a Rajya Sabha member, journalist turned politician Kunal Ghose and former state transport minister, Madan Mitra while in its probe on the Rose Valley Ponzi scam, the investigating agency arrested Tapas Pal and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, both Members of Parliament.
Ghose has been suspended from the TMC for an indefinite period and Mitra, who contested the 2016 Assembly elections from jail, lost out.
The TMC has found an ally in the Congress as well as AAP in hard times.
While Congress spokesperson Randeep S Surjewala questioned the latest arrest as a “reaction on Opposition’s unity”, Delhi’s chief minister and AAP supremo, Arvind Kejriwal, on his official Twitter handle said, “This is vendetta politics of Modi ji. His message is agar kisi ne notbandi ke khilaaf bola to chhodenge nahi. Really deplorable”.
Tensions are poised to escalate early next week when the TMC will mount its opposition across the country and RBI. Mamata Banerjee said her party will start the protests from January 9 across 10 states.
Fumed with the arrest, TMC supporters allegedly attacked three BJP leaders in the state and four party offices to which it responded by recommending imposition of Article 356 1(A) in the state (failure of state machinery).
