The ZAMINDARS can exert all their might but Bengal's SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE will never waver. This was Trinamool Congress national secretary Abhishek Banerjees on X on Sunday.
The provocation for the remarks came when an Income Tax department search party swooped down on a chopper that was to ferry Abhishek, Mamata Banerjees nephew, to Haldia on Monday. The TMC lost no time in slamming the BJP and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on this score, pointing out that after all the hullabaloo, the Income Tax sleuths had drawn blank.
Instead of removing the Director General of NIA (National Investigation Agency) and NIA SP, the Election Commission and the BJP have chosen to deploy minions from Income Tax to search and raid my chopper Banerjee said, referring to the partys charge that BJP was misusing the central agency.
The TMC leader alleged that the I-T officials also threatened to detain his chopper, when his security personnel asked why the raid was being conducted. The sleuths opened each and every bag, searched every nook and corner of the chopper, the TMC MP from Diamond Harbour charged.
He further claimed that when his security personnel videographed the raid, the I-T officials forcefully got it deleted.
And all this happened when the chopper was on a trial run at the Behala flying club. These actions are testament to the fact that BJP is jittery. By hook or by crook, they want to stamp out the opposition, the TMC leader said. Later in the day, the TMC filed a complaint with the Election Commission, alleging highhanded executive overreach and abuse of powers exercised by the Income Tax Department with the sole objective of creating impediments for the TMC at the behest of the BJP.
An official of the Election Commission said the raid at the flying club was completed before Abhishek reached the spot and added that nothing was found. The party will lodge a policeb complaint as well, TMC sources said.
Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP said the raid was intended to eliminate black money during election. However, the TMC countered that it was the BJP which was using cash to buy votes. Unaccounted cash of over Rs9 lakh was seized from district BJP Mahila Morcha president Deepa Banik and BJP convener Rakesh Nandi's car during a special naka checking in the Kranti area of Jalpaiguri on Saturday night, the party alleged.
