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‘Even Indira Gandhi lost’: Mamata Banerjee likens ED, CBI arrests to Emergency
Mamata Banerjee said that then prime minister Indira Gandhi had lost the election after putting several people in jail during the Emergency in the 1970’s
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Sunday compared the arrests being made by federal agencies in her state with those made by the Congress government during the Emergency in the 1970’s and said that then prime minister Indira Gandhi had lost the election after putting several people in jail. She also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and the CPI(M) of joining hands to defeat TMC in elections. This came at a time when talks on seat sharing between the INDIA block partners have hit a dead end in West Bengal.
“During the Emergency, 2,000 people were put in jail. Indira Gandhi thought she would win the election (in 1977). But she lost. Today, the BJP is using ED and CBI (Central Burau of Investigation) for elections. The BJP, Congress and CPI(M) have joined hands. You saw this in the last Lok Sabha, assembly and panchayat polls,” Banerjee said at a government event in Birbhum district on Sunday, referring to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arresting Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). “There can be allegations but how can people be kept in jail year after year without trial?” she said.
In the elections she mentioned, the TMC swept, except in 2019 when the BJP wrested 18 of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats. The saffron camp has targeted 35 seats this year.
Although TMC heavyweights such as Partha Chatterjee and Jyotipriya Mallick were arrested in 2022 and 2023 when they were ministers, Banerjee named only TMC’s Birbhum district unit president Anubrata Mondal.
The CBI arrested Mondal on August 11, 2022 in the cattle smuggling case. His daughter was arrested later. Both are in judicial custody and lodged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail because the trial has not started.
“A conspiracy has been hatched in Birbhum. Kesto (Mondal’s nickname) has been in jail for so long. If there is any allegation against him, then he has the right to defend himself,” Banerjee said.
Reacting to her comments, Koustav Bagchi, an All India Congress Committee (AICC) member from Bengal, said: “In an interview to BBC, Indira Gandhi said she thought arresting those people was necessary under those circumstances but later realised that it was a mistake. Mamata Banerjee should realise that those arrested during Emergency did not face charges of smuggling cattle, coal and rice like her leaders.”
Banerjee on Sunday also charged the Centre of cancelling Aadhaar cards of citizens in several Bengal districts. This was being done to deprive them of the state’s welfare schemes before the Lok Sabha polls, she alleged. She also accused the BJP of using the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to influence voters.
On February 10, Union home minister Amit Shah declared that CAA will be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections after the rules are issued. Passed by Parliament in 2020, CAA offers citizenship to religious minorities who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015. The TMC insists that CAA, which excludes Muslims, is unconstitutional as it links citizenship to faith in a secular country.
Banerjee said: “The Aadhaar cards of 50 people at Jamalpur in (West) Burdwan district have been cancelled. This has happened in Birbhum, North and South 24 Parganas districts and the north Bengal region as well. This is a conspiracy. With elections approaching, they (BJP) will make CAA and NRC (National Register of Citizens) their agenda. You won’t hear of these once the polls are over.”
Banerjee ordered bureaucrats present at the event to launch a portal where people whose Aadhaaar cards have been cancelled can register their complaints.
She said: “The elections will be declared in one month. Those who are not enrolled as voters must get it done as soon as possible. Aadhaar or no Aadhaar, none of our schemes will be stopped. Nobody needs to link Aadhaar cards with bank accounts for our schemes. If (nationalised) banks refuse to do this, our co-operative banks will do it. Delhi will get a befitting reply.”
Bengal BJP leader Sajal Ghosh said: “Banerjee is telling lies to secure votes. Aadhaar cards of many people could be suspended if they did not link it to their PAN card and update their bank records.”
