The Saradha fire has engulfed the politics of the country with the two firebrand politicians at war with each other. Mamta Banerjee, the incumbent chief minister of West Bengal, has left no stone unturned in ridiculing and lashing out at the Narendra Modi led government ever since it came to power in May 2014. Modi has maintained decorum and is yet to respond to Mamta’s vitriolic attacks.
Mamata Banerjee did not always have a love-hate relationship with the Narendra Modi.
She was one of the few politicians who had congratulated Modi when he became the chief minister of Gujarat post the 2002 Godhra riots.
However, the relationship turned sour when BJP won a majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with an unprecedented vote-share and made in-roads into Bengal, threatening the stability of the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress and pressurising its MPs to resort to post-poll violence on BJP workers.
Mamata’s worries were compounded when an increase in Muslim support for her party in Bengal forced her to shun Modi during his prime ministerial campaign.
Since Modi became the prime minister, Mamata has continuously locked horns with him and his team, calling him a dangar much (face of the riot) and constantly daring him to arrest her over her alleged involvement in the Saradha scam.
The Saradha scam was a multi-billion rupee Ponzi scheme run by a consortium of over 200 companies under an umbrella corporation of the Saradha group.
The scam, run as a chit fund in Eastern India, which involved investments of over 1.7 million depositors was unearthed in April 2013 after it collapsed.
The Central Government through the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate launched a multi-agency probe to investigate the Saradha scam and similar Ponzi schemes.Â
In May 2014, the Supreme Court of India, citing inter-state ramifications, possible international money laundering, serious regulatory failures and alleged political nexus, transferred all investigations into the Saradha Scam and other Ponzi schemes to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s federal investigative agency.
During the CBI and SIT investigation, an FIR was filed against Sudipto Sen and Kunal Ghosh on 14 April 2013.Â
Around six officials from Saradha Group were arrested. The investigation was headed by the detective department of Bidhannagar police.
The investigation was widened to include other Ponzi funds. Kunal Ghosh and other officials from Saradha were repeatedly questioned by police to determine the true assets of the company and other facets of the fraud.
Ghosh was arrested by SIT in November 2013 after he posted a list of 12 names on his Facebook page; these included at least four TMC MPs and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Highlighting the involvement of key TMC ministers in the nexus, BJP President Amit Shah lashed out at the TMC Supremo for involving these ministers in her party and cabinet and hinted towards the involvement of the CM as well.
To divert attention from the Saradha scam and upset BJP, Banerjee allegedly forced police officials to deny the BJP permission to hold a rally opposite Victoria House where she holds an annual rally for her party workers.
This move did not go down well with BJP who questioned the police’s decision in a Kolkata High Court and were eventually granted permission to hold a rally at the same venue albeit under supervision.
At the rally, Shah took repeated pot-shots at the West Bengal government and said the government had not delivered on the promises and were busy trying to form alliances against Modi.
While Banerjee did not respond to the allegations, party spokesperson and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee said she would not respond to the claims made by Shah as he was not of her stature.
An incensed BJP mocked the situation stirring the cauldron of brewing hatred between the two political leaders.
While the arrested TMC Transport Minister Madan Mitra, whose photo once hung on the walls of the Saradha group, claims that his sources in the CBI have told him that the orders for his arrest came from Delhi, there has been no substantial proof to corroborate his claims.
Though Mamata Banerjee said that she will support her minister till her last breath and will not succumb to the alleged pressure by the Modi led government, she made her displeasure with the PM apparent by not attending the National CM Planning Commission, sending a representative instead.
While Modi chose to remain silent on the issue publicly, sources say the current BJP strategy to destabalise the West Bengal is his brainchild and is a tactic to improve the party’s vote-share in the impending elections.
As the CBI and other investigating agencies probe deeper into the Saradha scam, it remains to be seen whether the Centre acknowledges publically if it has had any say in the current proceedings and whether this political slugfest between the prime minister and the chief minister of West Bengal escalate, causing a massive furore in the political world.
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