Bengal assembly passes resolution against CBI & ED, says TMC leaders ‘selectively targeted’

The resolution also notes that 'despite names of BJP leaders featuring in chit fund scams, the agencies are overlooking and probing just one-side of the matter'.

File photo of West Bengal State Legislative Assembly House in Kolkata | Commons

Kolkata: The West Bengal Assembly Monday became the first state to pass a resolution against the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other federal agencies, saying they are “selectively targeting” ruling party leaders of the state and “creating an atmosphere of fear”.

The move comes at a time when the ED and CBI are probing some high profile cases against Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders.

In the past two months, former West Bengal minister and now suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee was arrested in an alleged school service recruitment scam, and Trinamool Birbhum District President Anubrata Mondal was arrested in an alleged cattle smuggling investigation.

TMC MLAs Nirmal Ghosh and Tapas Roy tabled the resolution on the floor of the state legislative assembly under Rule 169. The resolution reads, “Central agencies are selectively targeting WB ruling party leaders and creating an atmosphere of fear.”

The resolution also highlights the arrest of senior Trinamool leaders Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee by the CBI last year — soon after the 2021 Assembly polls in the state — in the ongoing Narada scam probe, without seeking permission of the Assembly speaker, as is the norm.

“Despite names of BJP leaders featuring in chit fund scams, the agencies are overlooking and probing just one-side of the matter,” reads the resolution.

It also states that the federal agencies are a part of the “larger conspiracy to topple democratically-elected governments and playing politics of hate”.

Not the first resolution against agencies

This isn’t the first time that the West Bengal government has initiated a resolution against federal agencies. In November 2021, the state government passed a resolution against increased jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

The ED had also quizzed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, his wife Rujira Banerjee, his sister-in-law Maneka Gambhir, West Bengal Law Minister Maloy Ghatak and several IPS officers posted in the state in an alleged coal smuggling scam.

Leader of the Opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari mocked the resolution and said it doesn’t have any locus standi. “The Supreme Court has passed a clear verdict in favour of the ED just a few weeks ago. So this resolution under Rule 169 is absolutely useless,” Adhikari told the media outside the assembly.