It is not often that the much-feared and reviled Enforcement Directorate finds more than a match in the people and organisations it investigates. But that happened in Kolkata recently, when the ED evoked the wrath and fury of the feisty Mamata Banerjee when she forced the team to retreat from the offices of I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee), the political consultancy outfit hired by the Trinamool Congress to bolster its prospects in next year’s assembly election in the state.
The ED claims that the raids were part of a money-laundering investigation into an alleged multi-crore coal theft scam in West Bengal. According to FIRs filed by the CBI and ED, the mining scam involves alleged theft and illegal coal excavation from Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) leasehold areas in West Bengal. The operation was run by a statewide syndicate led by kingpin Anup Majee (alias Lala) and others, in ‘active connivance’ with state government officials, local police, CISF personnel, private entities and political influencers. In a petition before the Calcutta High Court on Friday, the ED stated that Rs20 crore in proceeds of crime was transferred to I-PAC through illicit hawala channels. The money was transferred from Kolkata to Goa through a complex hawala network involving a firm called R Kanti Lal ‘to support I-PAC operations in Goa during 2021-2022.’ That was the time when the assembly election in Goa saw the Trinamool Congress making a big splash, even projecting a CM candidate.
A furious Mamata, however, claimed that TMC has a contract with I-PAC on election management and the party’s ‘confidential data’ about the party’s candidates was kept in the office raided by the ED. She even summoned the state police to prevent the ED from going about its job and got FIRS registered against the officers.
Mamata, the street fighter
But the real political action took place in the courts. The Calcutta High Court’s ruling confirming that the ED walked away from the I-PAC offices with absolutely nothing was projected by the TMC as a case where a legal defeat turned into a political masterclass. On the streets of Bengal, the narrative being spun was far more cinematic. It was the story of Mamata, the ‘street fighter’, staring down the Central government’s ‘muscle’. For the Trinamool Congress, this wasn’t about the legalities of a search warrant. It was about the optics. By moving the court to ‘protect confidential data’, the TMC effectively signalled two things to the public: First, that they held political secrets worth stealing by the BJP, second, that they were bold enough to stop them at the door. When the ED admitted in court that they didn’t seize anything, it was a winning moment for the TMC.
This plays perfectly into the long-standing Didi brand. Banerjee has spent decades cultivating the image of a woman who doesn’t wait for a courtroom to get justice. She fights for it in the heat of the moment, creating a rare emotional appeal to the masses. The narrative being fed to the electorate is that, while Central agencies tried to bulldoze their way into the party’s strategic ‘war room’, Didi stood her ground.
The ED, however, won a reprieve of sorts in the Supreme Court, which observed that the ED had ‘raised a serious issue’ with its petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged obstruction by the West Bengal CM and state police officers during search operations at the Kolkata premises of I-PAC. The top court also issued notice to the CM and top police officers. The bench of Justices P.K. Mishra and Vipul M. Pancholi also stayed proceedings in the FIRs registered by the West Bengal Police against ED officers. It directed that CCTV and other devices containing footage of the ED operation be preserved. This was seen as a victory for the BJP-led Centre.
Even as political pundits are speculating on the brownie points earned by the warring parties in the course of their respective performances, the BJP, eyeing Bengal’s crown, is striving to depict Mamata as an obstructive force in the path of an investigation. The CM, on the other hand, is playing the victim card, portraying her party as being at the receiving end of the excesses of an authoritarian regime in the year of an election. This is understandable in strategic terms, given the fact that there is data to suggest that Central investigative agencies have been weaponised to disproportionately target Opposition leaders and parties under the BJP’s watch. The public consumption of the theatrics would, undoubtedly, have a bearing on the upcoming assembly elections.
But this is unlikely to be the final scene. Political observers see more political drama awaiting Bengal with the approach of the electoral season.