Kolkata: High drama unfolded Friday afternoon as a packed special MP/MLA court watched West Bengal minister Jyotipriya Mallick being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on money laundering charges.
When the judge handed over his custody to the ED, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader started vomiting, fell off his chair and fainted. His daughter rushed towards him, crying for help. After 20 hours of interrogation at his Kolkata residence, the environment minister was arrested in the early hours of Friday in a case related to an alleged ration distribution scam.
The arrest came hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressed a news conference at her residence while the ED was interrogating her minister and raiding his residence. “Balu (Mallick) has sugar (diabetes). If he dies, we will lodge an FIR against CBI and ED. They torture people and ask them to take names of people. This is atyachaar,” she claimed.
The 65-year-old has been sent to ED custody till 6 November but remains hospitalised due to his ill-health.
Mallick, a close aide of Banerjee’s, is fondly called “Balu”. Almost always dressed in his signature all-white shirt, pair of trousers and shoes, the strongman from North 24 Parganas adjacent to Kolkata has been the state’s food minister for 10 consecutive years since the Trinamool came to power in Bengal back in 2011. In 2021, he was given the environment ministry. It was during his tenure as food minister that the alleged scam took place.
Mallick wields power among the Matua community which holds a sway in around 50 assembly constituencies in the state, show media reports. The community found representation for the first time in the central Cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the form of Minister of State Shantanu Thakur of the BJP. This makes the Scheduled Caste community even more sought after by the Trinamool.
Born in Bardhaman’s Monteswar, the Trinamool heavyweight belongs to the Agoori community — a warrior community whose ancestors are from Rajasthan. A senior Trinamool leader told ThePrint that he was one of the many leaders who broke ties with the Congress to back Banerjee who he had met during his student politics days.
“Balu never spoke on camera unless it was related to his constituency or district. He is Mamata’s able soldier. In fact, in 2019 when MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar was trailing from Mallick’s district, he had announced he wouldn’t fight polls, but was given a ticket in 2021,” said a TMC legislator.
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Mallick in TMC
According to Trinamool leaders, close to the 2011 elections, it was Mallick who introduced Banerjee to Matua matriarch Binapani Devi or Boro Maa. At this time, he was the district president of North 24 Parganas. In 2011, the Matuas blessed the TMC, which eventually came to power for the first time, overturning the Left regime in the state.
In Mamata’s first cabinet, Mallick was given food and supplies ministry. Under his tenure, the government launched not only digital ration cards but the popular ration scheme of 1 kg rice for Rs 2 to those below poverty line. He has been arrested for allegedly laundering money under this scheme.
He faced a blow during the pandemic as ration dealers protested outside shops due to non-supply of foodgrains. In 2020, he was removed from the post of TMC district president and in 2021, removed from the food ministry and shifted to the environment ministry and non-conventional and renewable energy ministry. No reason was given for the change.
“Mallick often made controversial comments that embarrassed the party. After being pulled up, he managed to be careful with his words. But the party hasn’t taken any action against him so far, unlike in the case of Partha Chatterjee (who was suspended from party posts after his arrest in the alleged teachers’ recruitment scam),” said the MLA quoted above.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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