Kolkata: With crucial phases of the West Bengal assembly elections looming, the Income-Tax (IT) Department on Friday launched a series of raids on several
Trinamool Congress (TMC) members, including a sitting MLA and a key proposer for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s own candidature. The dramatic timing of the operations has ignited a political firestorm, with Mamata Banerjee herself accusing the BJP of a “cowardly” attempt to undermine her party.
The pre-dawn raids targeted Debashish Kumar, the influential TMC MLA contesting from the Rashbehari assembly seat, and Miraj Shah, who famously proposed Mamata Banerjee’s candidature from the Bhabanipur constituency as a representative of the Gujarati community. The premises of another TMC leader, Kumar Saha, were also searched in South Kolkata.
The targets and the allegations
IT officials descended upon Kumar’s residence on Padmapukur Road, his office in Ballygunge, and a relative’s home. Unnamed sources within the central agency suggested the raids on Kumar were connected to a case involving alleged illegal land grabbing. This is not Kumar’s first brush with central agencies; the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had questioned him twice last week in a separate land-grabbing investigation, which also saw searches at five locations tied to a prominent Kolkata real estate group.
Simultaneously, Miraj Shah’s residence on Elgin Road in Bhawanipore was under scrutiny, with the search operation continuing until late afternoon. Shah, a member of the trustee board at the Bhawanipore Education Society, which runs a college, remained silent on the specifics of the raid, as did IT officials.
Mamata Banerjee unleashes fury: “They are cowards!”
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wasted no time in condemning the raids, questioning their timing just days before voting on April 23 and 29. Speaking at an election rally in West Burdwan’s Durgapur, she thundered, “Unable to counter me politically, they have started IT raids at homes of my party leaders. They are cowards. But none of this will help the BJP.”
TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar echoed the sentiment, sharply criticizing the central government. “Elections are at the doorsteps. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and (Union Home Minister Amit) Shah have brought with them all the central agencies, ECI [Election Commission of India], and central forces. What they do not have is the people’s support,” Majumdar asserted. He specifically highlighted Miraj Shah as being “targeted by the BJP just because he proposed Mamata Banerjee’s candidature.”
MLA Debashish Kumar, himself a Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayor-in-council member, defiantly faced reporters in the evening. “I think you should ask them why they came here and what they got after the search. If they provide documents, I will also provide. I think the margin of my victory in the polls will rise. I would thank the officers. They behaved very well. There wasn’t any problem. It is only that I had to suspend my campaigning during the day,” he said, turning the inconvenience into a political advantage.
The raids also triggered immediate on-the-ground protests, with TMC workers staging demonstrations outside Kumar’s office and Saha’s residence.
BJP fires back: “Bengal wants thieves behind bars”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swiftly hit back at the TMC’s accusations. Senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Rahul Sinha accused Kumar of receiving kickbacks from an illegal land deal. “The entire party (TMC) is corrupt. Bengal wants corrupt leaders to be behind bars. All they want is to catch thieves and fill up the jails,” Sinha stated.
Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Debjit Sarker dismissed the “conspiracy” claims, emphasising the IT department’s autonomy. “The IT department has nothing to do with elections or the BJP. They conduct their operations independently. If TMC has any problem with the raid, then it can move court,” Sarkar countered.
With polling in Rashbehari and Bhabanipur scheduled for April 29, these high-stakes raids have undoubtedly intensified the political battle in West Bengal, setting the stage for a tumultuous final stretch of campaigning.
