Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah following a dramatic standoff involving West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Kolkata.
The confrontation unfolded after Banerjee entered the residence of I-PAC head Pratik Jain and walked away with documents and electronic devices, alleging that the central agency was attempting to seize the TMC’s internal documents, hard disks, and sensitive data related to its election strategy.
Reacting to the episode, Gokhale took to X and accused the Centre of misusing central agencies to target the Opposition. “Today, former tadipar Amit Shah deployed his filthy tactic again of using the ED to target Bengal,” he wrote.
In his post, the TMC MP claimed that 98% of ED cases against politicians were filed against Opposition leaders. He further alleged that out of 5,297 cases registered by the ED over the past 11 years, only 47 went to trial, with the agency’s conviction rate standing at just 0.7%.
“Out of every 100 cases filed by the ED against politicians, only one reaches court, and out of 1,000 people jailed, only seven are found guilty,” Gokhale claimed.
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of weaponising the ED, Gokhale alleged that the agency attempted to “steal potential candidate lists, strategy documents and campaign notes” of the TMC.
“Imagine the BJP’s desperation that it is literally using a central agency to commit theft. But stealing documents won’t save the BJP in Bengal,” he added.
