Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a scathing attack against Trinamool Congress while referring to the issue of the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s intervention while the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids and search operations at the office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and the residence of I-PAC’s co-founder Pratik Jain in Kolkata earlier this year.
However, through referring to that event while addressing a campaign rally at Haripal in Hooghly district of West Bengal, the Prime Minister did not directly name the Chief Minister or I-PAC.
“Trinamool Congress and the state government tried to create hindrances in the process of investigation by a central investigative agency. There were attempts to destroy the evidence. But the Supreme Court had recently given strict orders in the matter. The court has also accepted that this act was detrimental to democracy. The apex court’s order was a tight slap for the state government and Trinamool Congress,” PM Modi said.
He also referred to the rape and murder of a woman junior doctor in the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises in August 2024 and the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) enquiry on it following an order of the Calcutta High Court.
“Even in this case there was an attempt on part of the state administration to destroy evidence and create hindrance for a smooth probe by a central agency.”
The Prime Minister also referred to the instance of massive violence in the 2023 elections for the three tier-panchayat system in West Bengal that resulted in several deaths.
“The state government conducts the panchayat elections everywhere in India. The state government concerned is responsible for security. But have you seen what happened in 2023? The court felt that the government could not take on the responsibility of security. So the court ordered the deployment of central forces,” PM Modi said.
Referring to the multi-crore cash-for-school job case in West Bengal, the Prime Minister said that even in this matter the state government neither conducted an unbiased probe itself nor allowed a smooth probe by a central investigative agency.
“A Minister in the Trinamool Congress Cabinet ruined the future of thousands of youth. If the state government was sensitive, it would have investigated the matter impartially. But the court had to intervene in the matter and order for the central agency probe. The Trinamool Congress had lost all its credibility,” he added.
(IANS)
