A new drama is being enacted in Bengal. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested two high profile state ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, a ruling Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Sovan Chatterjee from their homes on May 17 morning in connection with the old Narada Sting operation case that had caused a big political sensation on the eve of the 2016 state Assembly elections. All four were granted interim bail by the CBI court Monday evening.
The arrests come at a time when the whole country has turned into a veritable hell due to the raging second wave of COVID-19 and the Centre is helplessly watching millions suffer and thousands die daily without being capable to help in any manner.
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The timing of the CBI action in this case that is being dragged for the past five years and the issue popping up almost in every major election to the Assembly or Lok Sabha since 2016 not only smacks of political vendetta, but also appears to be an attempt to change the national discourse from the Centre’s abdication of responsibility to combat the pandemic.
The Narada sting operation had been carried out by Mathew Samuel targeting high-ranking officials and politicians of the Trinamool showing them purportedly accepting cash as bribes in exchange for providing unofficial favours to a fictitious company. Among the “recipients” were over dozen Trinamool ministers, MPs and MLAs. Though the sting had been made in 2014, it was put on public domain in 2016, just months before the Bengal Assembly polls. But, the Trinamool came out with flying colours in spite of the slur. The issue surfaced again and again in subsequent elections, but it has not cut much ice with the electorate who voted the Trinamool to power.
The BJP has been blatantly using the CBI to settle political scores, intimidate political opponents and weaken opposition parties in different states. The same method was followed in Bengal as well when top Trinamool leaders, including former minister Subhendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy, whose names figured in the Narada sting operation, quit their party and joined the BJP. They were big catches for the BJP and were expected to play a crucial role in its bid to oust the Trinamool government and capture power in the recently concluded Assembly poll. However, the results were an unmitigated disaster for the BJP which failed even to secure the three-digit figure, while the Trinamool got a landslide victory.
It appears when the Trinamool was tasting success and basking in the new glory, the BJP top leadership had other things in mind. Before the new government was installed, the CBI sought and got permission from the Governor to file charge sheet and arrest the Trinamool ministers and MLA. The Speaker of the Assembly complained his permission had not been taken and as such the arrests were illegal. But, technically the CBI action seems to be well in order and planned in a meticulous manner, taking advantage of the situation when the new government was yet to be put in place.
The fact that the two other accused in the Narada sting case – Subhendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy – are spared by the CBI raises questions about the partisan handling of the matter by the agency and the Union Home Ministry. The charge made by both the Trinamool and Opposition Congress and the Left doesn’t appear to be without substance.
Apart from diverting the nation’s attention from the disastrous handling of the pandemic by the Centre, the arrests seem to be part of a bigger design.
During a global pandemic that is ravaging India and has put life out of gear for all Indians while sucking the life out of millions, the priorities of the Modi government are bound to be under question. Spending billions on rewriting history with the Central Vista project and using government agencies to carry out vendetta in the form of arrests and investigations aimed at suppressing opposition or critics seem to be the priority of the government at the Centre. If at all there needs to be an urgent enquiry, it should start with the thousands of unclaimed bodies surfacing in UP and Bihar, shaking the very conscience of the nation.
