The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not behind the alleged misuse of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
On Monday, Banerjee had said that the Central Bureau of Investigation reports to the home ministry and alleged that some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were misusing the agencies to serve their interests.
“Every day, leaders of Opposition parties are being threatened by BJP leaders with arrest by CBI and ED,” the chief minister had said. “Should central agencies function this way in the country? I don’t believe that PM Narendra Modi is behind this.”
On September 2, Banerjee had also asserted that all members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh were “not bad” and that many in the organisation do not support the saffron party, according to The Times of India.
On Tuesday, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused Banerjee of being a “trojan horse” amongst the Opposition, NDTV reported.
Chowdhury said that there was nothing new in Banerjee’s appreciation of the BJP and the RSS, since her party was part of the National Democratic Alliance in the past.
“Mamata is holding out an olive branch to PM [Modi] out of desperation,” Chowdhury said, according to NDTV. “The reason is obvious. When the ruling dispensation of West Bengal has been confronting the investigating agencies, who have been acting at the behest of the court, the TMC itself has been rattled.”
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also said it was not surprised by Banerjee’s statement.
“Her Trinamool Congress was born as an offshoot of RSS in 1998,” party leader Sujan Chakraborty said. “People who do not know the internal events and chemistry of the Trinamool Congress or Mamata Banerjee with PM Modi or others, might be upset. But we, who have information... are not upset.”
CPI(M) leader Mohammad Salim also accused the Trinamool Congress of being a “springboard for the RSS and the BJP”, The Hindu reported.
“She is saying that she believes that everyone in RSS is not bad,” Salim said at a rally in Kolkata. “The Trinamool Congress has taken a sub-contract for bringing the BJP and RSS to West Bengal.”
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