West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday launched one of her sharpest political attacks yet on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, warning of “mega exposure” if the BJP leadership continues what she described as politically motivated harassment through central agencies, particularly the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Addressing a massive protest rally from Jadavpur to Habra, Banerjee alleged that the ED raids on the office of the India Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and the residence of its co-founder Pratik Jain were aimed at destabilising her election strategy ahead of the all important assembly election.
In a blistering statement delivered at the culmination of the rally, Banerjee accused Shah of being the ultimate beneficiary of alleged coal smuggling proceeds. “They are shouting about coal smuggling. The proceeds of coal smuggling have gone to Amit Shah. Money has changed hands - first to Jagannath Chattopadhyay, then to Suvendu Adhikari, and from him the money has gone to Amit Shah,” she said, claiming she possesses documentary proof. Banerjee asserted that the evidence was stored on pen drives and warned that she would make it public if provoked further. “There should be civility. If you cross the Laxman Rekha, I will forget all decency. My decency is not my weakness,” she declared.
The Chief Minister’s remarks came a day after the ED conducted searches linked to a money-laundering probe, which the agency says originates from an FIR registered in November 2020. According to the ED, investigators have uncovered evidence of hawala channels allegedly used for laundering funds in connection with coal smuggling, during which Pratik Jain’s name surfaced. The agency has maintained that the action was strictly evidence-based and unrelated to political considerations.
Banerjee, however, rejected the ED’s claims, questioned the timing of the raids, alleging that the raids were orchestrated at Shah’s behest. On Thursday, she had described the Home Minister as “naughty and nasty” and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “control” him. On Friday, she went further, accusing ED officials of attempting to seize sensitive internal data of her party under the guise of investigation.
“What I have done is right. I have done so in my defence,” Banerjee said, justifying her resistance to the agency’s actions. “You came like a thief to steal my data and internal documents. IPAC is professionally associated with me. You tried stealing details of my BLA and also SIR data. I did what is right and I did so as the chairperson of AITC.”
Mamata Banerjee, in first of its kind, has also lodged police complaint against ED. The complaint that names unknown officials but confirms - they have used the name of ED when they raided the house of Jain and I-PAC’s office without any authority. Specific sections of IT and BNS have been invoked in the FIR. She had stormed inside the house of Jain when the raids were on and within nine minutes had come out along with documents, hard disks and phone - what she described as internal party data related to their election strategy and vowed to stand by her action to secure her party’s interest.
The showdown has intensified the political temperature in West Bengal, with the Trinamool Congress portraying the ED action as an attack on democratic opposition, while the BJP insists that law enforcement agencies are merely doing their job. Jagannath Chattopadhyay, named by Banerjee in her allegations, is a state general secretary of the BJP in West Bengal, while Suvendu Adhikari currently serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly. As the war of words escalates, Banerjee’s warning signals a potential political flashpoint, with the Chief Minister making it clear that any further action by central agencies could trigger the release of what she claims are explosive revelations at the highest levels of the BJP leadership. “Why is she warning us, let her release the documents”, said BJP Bengal President Samik Bhattacharya countering the Chief Minister.
