Trinamool MPs Dragged and Detained by Cops Outside Poll Body Office Amid Protest

Trinamool MPs Dragged and Detained by Cops Outside Poll Body Office: Police have detained a delegation of 10 members of Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress sitting on a dharna outside the Election Commission's Delhi headquarters. The MPs were pushed, pulled and sometimes lifted by the police to a waiting bus, according to visuals at the scene. A complaint about the BJP-led Central government misusing central agencies has led the MPs to demand a meeting with the full bench of the poll body.

As part of its 24-hour dharna inside the Mandir Marg police station, the party has called on the Commission to remove the heads of four central investigation committees before the election.

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Dola Sen, Sagarika Ghosh, Saket Gokhale and Shantanu Sen were among the MPs protesting. They promised a 24-hour sit-in demanding a "level playing field".

During the dharna, police started to take action after the leaders refused repeated requests to leave. Several police officers were seen hauling the 63-year-old Mr O'Brien to a bus.

In a show of brute strength, HM @AmitShah's Delhi Police cracked down on our 10-member delegation who were peacefully protesting outside Nirvachan Sadan. Our female MPs were pushed, shoved, and dragged on the ground. Our Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen sustained a leg injury in the… pic.twitter.com/cCLioYaBdi

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) April 8, 2024

According to the leaders, the central agencies are targeting Opposition leaders ahead of the general election and the arrests are purely political.

"In a case of 2022, the NIA makes an arrest in 2024. Law and order is a state matter, and local police should have been informed... All four central agencies' chiefs need to be changed," said Trinamool MP Dola Sen.

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In electoral democracy, a level playing field is essential, said Sagarika Ghosh, who had met with Election Commission officials on April 1.

"The manner in which officials CBI, NIA, ED and Income Tax are acting, they appear to be branch members of BJP. It is making the life of opposition difficult. A member of BJP had a meeting with an NIA official at the latter's residence," she added.

On the intervening night of April 5 and 6, raids were conducted without informing local authorities, she said. An NIA raid at 3 am in the morning was the result of a two-year-old case... Officials barged into the women's homes at 3 am and harassed and molested them," she said.

NIA, ED, CBI, and income tax chiefs have been requested to be changed by the MPs, she said.

The protest comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned at a recent election rally in Jalpaiguri that action against corruption would pick up after June 4, when the results of the election are to be declared. Modi had said, "Should we not end corruption? Should we not jail corrupt people? We should not get rid of TMC corruption?"

Mamata Banerjee, chief of the Trinamool Congress and West Bengal chief minister, said today that her party is not afraid. However, she alleged that the BJP was using the agencies for political purposes. "They say Modi ka Guarantee. What is Modi's guarantee? After June 4, he will jail everyone," she said.

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