After three days of electrifying drama, West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee called off her dharna politics, a three-day sit-in protest against the centre, which she referred to as ‘Save the Constitution’ which saw a host of opposition leaders extending support to the Trinamool Congress chief.
“This dharna is a victory for the Constitution and democracy, so, let us end it today,” she told her supporters at the protest site in the heart of the Bengal capital. Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu stood next to her, so did Tejashwi Yadav of Bihar’s Rashtriya Janata Dal. Both had flown to Kolkata to extend their support; other opposition leaders had phoned in their support.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, whose move to barge into the house of the Kolkata police chief and question him, after sending over 20 notices to the Kolkata police commissioner in the Ponzi probe, triggered the mega row, went to the Supreme Court, which heard the evidence against Rajeev Kumar today.
The CBI has accused Rajeev Kumar of being a “potential accused” in the Saradha and Rose Valley Ponzi schemes, the cases he investigated, and said it was possible that he might have tried to destroy evidence. Although the top court has given the verdict that Rajeev Kumar cannot be arrested, his questioning will be done in Shillong.
Calling the SC judgement a ‘moral victory’ Mamata decided to end her theatrics today.
While addressing the media, Mamata Banerjee lambasted at the BJP and Modi saying that “one man, one party rule is going on in India”. She accused the centre of controlling all agencies, including the state agencies as well and asked the PM to resign and go back to Gujarat.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata: They (Central govt) want to control all the agencies including the state agencies also? PM you resign from Delhi and go back to Gujarat. One man govt, one party government is there. pic.twitter.com/RckwAR0uUE
— ANI (@ANI) February 5, 2019
She further blamed the central government of interfering with the state affairs and said that the centre was not providing adequate funds to the state. She further accused the Modi-led government of harassing media, bureaucrats and officers, film industry, government officials, industrialists, farmers etc.
The Bengal CM, who is the so-called self-made or self-proclaimed ocean of talent, amongst various other allegations said that Modi was jealous because of her ‘talent’. The fact that she can write and paint and that her books have been ‘best sellers’ have made the PM jealous.
While DMK leader Kanimozhi, who was acquitted in the 2G spectrum case in December 2017 and fodder scam convict Lalu Yadav‘s son Tejashwi Yadav, who himself is accused in IRCTC scam and the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who has been an accused in the cash-for-votes scam was seen rubbing shoulder’s with Mamata Banerjee, the out on bail Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who seemed to have forgotten its party’s own stand on Mamata and the Chit Fund scam from a couple of years back, extended his support saying, Congress is ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with Mamata chose to stay away from Kolkata.
Meanwhile, hitting out at Mamata, Union Minister Smriti Irani, called her an ‘anarchist’ and expressed shock over her assertion of ‘moral victory’. Irani claimed that the fact that the Supreme Court instructed the Kolkata Police chief to meet CBI at a neutral venue is an implicit recognition of the lawlessness in West Bengal. Irani further alleged that the decision by the Supreme Court should spell concern for Mamata Banerjee, not a moment for celebration.
Unprecedented scenes have unfolded in Kolkata since Sunday evening when Kolkata Police detained five CBI officials who had reached Kolkata top cop’s residence in connection with Saradha Chit Fund scam probe. The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has since then been sitting on a ‘Dharna’ against the central government.
