Close on the heels of the arrest of a senior functionary of the Trinamool party-cum- cabinet minister in charge of many ministries and the seizure of huge sums of cash from his accomplice, for a few days, the party, including their chief, clammed up and went into a sulking mode. As usual, denials came, first from the CM and joyously lapped up by others in the party, claiming the arrest minister, Partha Chatterjee, is guilty only if so, judged by the court. But the continued unearthing of vast sums. Gold and land deeds were like an advanced stage of pregnancy that could not be hidden. Finally, Partha’s guilt was reluctantly accepted, and he became a persona non-grata.
Then came the next jolt, the party’s Birbhum chief, Anubrata Mondal, was arrested by the ED, and there was a repeat, unearthing of huge sums and properties. For a CM who boasts that there cannot be a small movement of even a leaf without her knowledge, it is difficult to comprehend her total ignorance of the crimes committed by her partymen. Today, a panchayat leader has been arrested on a chit fund scam and crores seized.
Meanwhile, the ED summoned the Trinamool’s General Secretary and Numero Deux, Abhishek Banerjee, and quizzed him for seven hours on the illegal coal mining case. His sister-in-law was summoned on Monday to the ED’s office. After coming out after the marathon ED interrogation, Abhishek boisterously stated that only Amit Shah could be charged with the cow and coal smuggling cases, as the security personnel were from the Central forces. It is outright silly as blaming Joe Biden for the fault of a fly in a Starbucks Coffee. A BSF commander is in prison and has coughed a lot of information that seems of no consideration.
Not that all in TMC are thieves, as a party MP, Saugata Roy, claims. Not all, correct, but may not be a few either. The party by an austere living Mamata to be termed as a symbol of corruption is indeed painful. However, instead of introspecting and throwing open the details of assets held by the members and their relatives, Saugata Roy strangely has been acting as a gun-toting gangster. He had earlier threatened that those criticising his party would have to run and hide. He followed up by beating up those who would criticise. The same tone and tenor were by a few other leaders, who variedly offered to whip, slap, and beat as punishments for criticising the party of corruption.
The opposition has exploited the opportunity and has descended on the streets. It is strange to see the TMC spokespersons, whenever cornered, targeting the BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. However, an eye for an eye may not exonerate the crimes of Partha and Anubrata, as many more are in the queue.
Meanwhile, there is also a little humanity seen, a little pricking of conscience by people like the outspoken MP Jawhar Sircar from Rajya Sabha or minister Srikant Mahato. Both have spoken against corruption. The TMC party has retaliated by removing their security and dismantling the CCTVs in front of their homes. Jawhar is removed from the party’s inner social networking groups. I guess the party is wantonly exhausting its options while underestimating the mightiness of the voices against corruption.
Satyameva Jayate! Truth shall prevail.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide voix
