Unlike their counterparts in other parties, TMC leaders do not bother to hide their feelings in public, nor hesitate to declare their thoughts or stand on a particular issue instantly. Standard norms like keeping other parties guessing and expressing the party line only after proper consultations on any issue do not go well with the functioning of the party or the political temperament of Ms Mamata Banerjee. Instant, almost reflexive reactions, aired as loudly and abrasively as possible, is the one and only way the TMC expresses an opinion.

The TMC’s overheated reaction to the decision of the central Enforcement Directorate (ED) to arrest in Kolkata Mrs Piyali Sen, wife of Saradha chit fund boss Sudipta Sen and their son Subhojit, came as no surprise. All the while the state government was busy in systematically burying the scam, wasting time probing inconsequential leads, avoiding the chief culprits and political beneficiaries, central agencies were quietly doing their work. The Supreme Court repeatedly rapped lawyers for the state government on their knuckles for their failure to answer basic questions about the scam. How much money was actually looted from the poor people? Where did the large sums collected, estimated between Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 25,000 crore, end up? Who were the real beneficiaries? Despite ‘probing’ such issues for over a year, by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), the state Government did not have a clue!

Shortly after the ED arrests, there were local press reports in Kolkata that summons were to be issued to a former Minister of Assam, some former police chiefs , a noted cultural figure of West Bengal and several Ministers and MPs of the ruling party , as the ED wanted to question them regarding the chit fund scandal. A list of around 60 names was finalised and the people to be questioned were to report to the ED and reply by April 25. A special team of officials had come from Delhi to expedite the investigation.

The arrests themselves were a matter of deep shame for the State Government. The ED had earlier complained of the total non co-operation from the West Bengal police and other state agencies in their investigation. They complained to the Kolkata High Court, but matters did not improve even after the Court directed the state to change its ways. Whenever the ED wanted to question Sen’s relatives and the TMC leaders who were named in connection with the mega scam, the state police responded, ‘Sen’s family members are absconding, they might be in Nepal or somewhere out of India.’ Eventually, Mrs Sen and Subhojit were arrested from Baguiati, which falls within the Bidhannagar police jurisdiction, a highly protected official zone!

Interestingly, there were press reports that Sudipta Sen, who had first called for a CBI probe into the scam, naming TMC MP Kunal Ghosh and other TMC leaders and Ministers in a note to the central government, later pressed for a state probe instead. ‘If you keep my family out of the probe, I will co-operate with you. But if they are arrested, I will disclose all,’ Sen reportedly informed the state government, which – surprise, surprise! – accepted the recommendations of this highly accused person! No wonder the opposition parties saw red and brayed for the blood of the TMC leaders. It was clear that the TMC and its government was giving people a time-wasting runaround in the name of a probe, in the biggest cover-up of a financial scandal in E/NE India.

Despite claims made on behalf of the Saradha company that Sen’s family members did not know anything about the scam, it was learnt that four or five days before their arrest, several crores of rupees had been moved from the scores of bank accounts maintained by them , to other parties. Subhojit was in the habit of spending lakhs of rupees daily during the heyday of the Saradha company, partying with friends. He also bought and sold foreign cars regularly. TMC leaders, according to reports, had made it possible for them to stay quietly in Kolkata and ensured their protection from police inquiries. Incidentally the state police department is under the state Chief Minister herself.

Naturally, while Sudipta reportedly went into a shell following the arrest of his family members, a bolt from the blue for him, Ms Banerjee could not hold her patience. She told public rallies, ‘Now they want to arrest us, this corrupt central government which is itself up to its neck in major scams like 2G ... If they arrest any of us, I will see to it that Mrs Nalini Chidambaram and her son are also hauled up, they were named in Saradha documents as having taken money, too... They want to finish our party, but they do not know how hard we will hit back,’ etc etc. TMC General Secretary Mukul Roy said the same in his press briefing, wondering why central Ministers like P Chidambaram and others were not being contacted by the ED in connection with the 2G and other scams.

State Finance Minister Amit Mitra harped on the same theme, alleging that the arrests were made obviously with an eye to make things difficult for the TMC in the LS polls.

More than the arrests themselves, the instant reaction from the angry, panicking TMC leadership provided almost clinching evidence of the party’s deep involvement in the Saradha chit fund scandal, according to observers. By contrast, more seasoned political players like Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ms Mayawati or Ms Jayalalithaa have all been accused of corruption, but have retained a measure of their effectiveness. ‘The problem with Ms Banerjee is that she cannot conceal her support for allegedly corrupt people, and at the same time she poses as a Simon-pure political figure. She wants to eat her cake and have it too, not knowing that it just can’t be done,’ said an observer. (IPA Service)