New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday threw down a direct challenge to the BJP and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, daring him to come to the state and take her on “democratically,” as political tensions escalated ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
Her remarks followed dramatic scenes outside the Kolkata office of political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches in connection with an alleged fake government job scam. Banerjee arrived at the premises during the operation and accused the central agency of illegally seizing party-related data and documents.
“If Amit Shah wants Bengal, he should come, fight democratically and win,” the Chief Minister said, alleging that ED officials began the raid around 6 am and confiscated laptops, mobile phones, hard disks, strategic documents and sensitive party data. She claimed forensic experts copied the data, calling the action a “crime.”
Banerjee further alleged that the ED took away all party hard disks, internal strategies and documents, including candidate lists, and questioned whether collecting such material fell within the agency’s mandate. Accusing the Home Minister of failing to protect the country while allowing central agencies to target her party, she asked how the BJP would react if similar raids were conducted at its offices. She claimed the move was politically motivated and aimed at accessing Trinamool Congress information ahead of the elections, alleging that the party was being targeted because Pratik oversees its organisational affairs.
The Chief Minister asserted that I-PAC was not a private firm but an authorised team working for the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). She alleged that the ED also seized confidential material related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. “We are a registered political party and regularly file our income tax returns. If the ED needs any information, it can approach the Income Tax Department. Why raid our party’s IT department?” she said.
Banerjee also raised concerns over the SIR process, alleging large-scale deletion of names from electoral rolls.
She claimed that 54 lakh voters were removed under the pretext of “logical discrepancies,” disproportionately affecting women and young voters. She cited economist Amartya Sen receiving a notice as an example and questioned why women and youth were being denied their right to vote.
Escalating her attack, Banerjee alleged that 72 people had died due to stress and consequences linked to the SIR exercise and held the BJP responsible. “Who is accountable for these deaths? The BJP is a killer party,” she said.
During her interaction with the media, Banerjee accused Amit Shah of misusing central agencies for political ends, reiterating that it was not the ED’s role to collect party hard disks and candidate lists. She warned that any similar action against the BJP would trigger strong reactions.
Rejecting the allegations, ED sources said the searches were not politically motivated and were being conducted in accordance with legal procedures. The agency claimed that certain individuals, including constitutional functionaries, had illegally entered two of the raided premises and forcibly taken away documents.
The ED said the searches are part of a nationwide probe into an organised fake government job racket that allegedly cheated aspirants by offering fraudulent appointments across various government departments. Raids were carried out at 15 locations across several states, including Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
The locations searched included Muzaffarpur and Motihari in Bihar; two premises in Kolkata; Ernakulam, Pandalam, Adoor and Kodur in Kerala; Chennai in Tamil Nadu; Rajkot in Gujarat; and Gorakhpur, Prayagraj and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, in coordination with state police forces.
