What Did Abhishek Banerjee Say About the ED’s I-PAC Raids After Trinamool MPs Were Detained by Delhi Police?
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Key Takeaways
Kolkata, Jan 9 (NationPress) On Friday morning, Abhishek Banerjee, the general secretary of the Trinamool Congress and a member of the Lok Sabha, finally addressed the recent actions taken by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). These actions included simultaneous raids on Thursday at the India Political Action Committee (I-PAC) office located in Salt Lake and the home of I-PAC co-founder Pratik Jain on Loudon Street in central Kolkata.
Banerjee's comments came after a group of Trinamool Congress MPs from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were intercepted and detained by the Delhi Police on Friday morning while participating in a protest outside the Union Home Ministry's office in the national capital.
Following the incident, the Trinamool Congress took to social media to criticize the Union Government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for their actions.
In his post, Banerjee claimed that the BJP and the central government have been weaponising investigative agencies to manipulate election outcomes.
“Democracy is punished. Criminals are rewarded. Agencies are weaponised. Elections are manipulated. JAIL the PROTESTERS. BAIL the RAPISTS. This is the BJP’s version of 'New India'. Even if the rest of the country is forced to surrender, Bengal will resist. We will fight you tooth and nail and defeat you, no matter how much force you unleash,” Banerjee stated in his post, which included images of the detained party MPs.
Interestingly, while the ED was conducting its raids in Kolkata on Thursday, Banerjee refrained from commenting on the situation, even during a scheduled engagement with the public and media in Malda district.
He is expected to address a public rally in Nadia district later today, and it remains to be seen if he will provide further remarks on the issue.
At the time of this report, there had been no response from Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, regarding the detention of the Trinamool Congress MPs by the Delhi Police.
The Chief Minister plans to lead a protest rally against the ED’s actions, and it is anticipated that she may address the detentions of party MPs at the conclusion of the rally.