A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived at the spot of an Enforcement Directorate investigation and stormed off with a set of documents, the BJP started targeting her with questions about what it is that she is trying to hide. Describing the dramatic turn of events on Thursday in Kolkata as “unprecedented”, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad called Banerjee’s actions — “obstructing a Central agency in the course of a probe and snatching documents from the location of the probe” — were “unethical, irresponsible, and unconstitutional”.
Prasad also criticised the Trinamool Congress protests outside Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s office. Following the ED raids at I-PAC — a political consultancy and election management company — the TMC stepped up its offensive against the Union government, with party leaders, including Derek O’Brien and Mahua Moitra, staging a protest outside Shah’s office.
Banerjee has said that she would take to the streets to protest the BJP’s “blatant misuse of central agencies” and an “assault on democracy”.
In political circles, across party lines and rivals alike, the most common description for Banerjee is that she is a “fighter”. ‘Didi’, as she is known, is a fighter — someone who has taken on major national political streams, and won, emerging as the doughtiest Opposition face for the BJP behemoth
Observers say before this controversy and the visuals of her openly slamming the Centre, the multiple-time CM was struggling with several factors, including a massive anti-incumbency, playing against her. But the optics and the BJP publicly questioning Banerjee’s actions may have just given her what she needs the most — a fresh lease of life and an opportunity to do what she is best known for, fighting on the ground.
“In mind her past, she has the capability to turn adversities in her favour. In the present case, it is the context of the timing of the raids and the perception that powerful Central agencies are used in ways that question political impartiality. Along with the legal battle, it can be a new turning point in the tussle between opposition-ruled states and central authorities. Her defiance can be projected as a stand for federal fairness and protection of the democratic process,” they add.
According to the TMC, raids just months before West Bengal’s 2026 Assembly polls were an attempt to acquire electoral information that had no direct connection to the alleged money-laundering which the ED is saying — that the raids were linked to an illegal coal mining case that is being investigated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED has denied that searches were politically driven and insisted they were part of a legitimate investigation under the PMLA.
Defending ED’s actions, Prasad also drew parallels to past investigations, like the fodder scam case involving former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, to wonder why the West Bengal CM reacted aggressively, instead of cooperating with officials and accused Banerjee of interfering with a central agency’s investigation.
“The entire action of the CM is not only unethical, irresponsible, and unconstitutional, but she has put the entire democratic process and governance to shame. The raid was on the premises of a private entity, not at the CM’s house or office or at her party office. Obviously, there was something sensitive enough at the location which Mamata Banerjee wanted to remove out of fear of implication. What was that,” Prasad asked, citing past instances to recount how the West Bengal CM has routinely blocked sensitive anti-corruption and anti-rape investigations in the state.
Visuals from the site of raids showed the CM walking out with a laptop, a green folder, and other materials.
Banerjee, who also used the opportunity to challenge the ED’s motives, accused the Central agency of trying to seize sensitive political data, including internal party strategy documents, candidate lists, and campaign material belonging to the TMC, as well as files used by I-PAC in its work with her party.