Yet again, the Enforcement Directorate is caught in the eye of a political storm. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cried foul when the ED raided several locations, including the house of the co-founder of a political consultancy firm working for her party, the Trinamool Congress.
That the action came at a time when the State is gearing up for a crucial Assembly election, leading to allegations that central agencies were being misused to help the BJP’s fight in the polls.
The Chief Minister, accompanied by Kolkata police, had to rush to the premises to remove digital assets and documents so that the ED could not lay its hands on what the party claims is critical and confidential information relating to its election strategy and tactics.
The apprehension is that the BJP and its leader, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, want those documents.
When the BJP denounced the CM’s interference in the ED raid as being “unconstitutional”, it lacked conviction and discerning people were either ambivalent or more often sceptical about it.
The problem is the increasingly questionable credibility of ED and other central investigating agencies such as CBI, IT and NCB, and the Centre ruling party’s Chanakya Niti of going to any lengths in its quest for power.
The latest episode involving ED and BJP would evoke a sense of déjà vu, as it is a replay of the 2019 CBI raid on the residence of Kolkata police chief in connection with the Saradha scam, a multi-crore Ponzi scheme that became a political scandal due to the involvement of some well-known TMC leaders.
Like last time, this time too, the TMC is determined to fight political battles in the street and legal battles in the courts of law.
Closer to home, the Central Board of Film Certification, more commonly known as the censor board, have been added to the list of agencies allegedly acting at the behest of the ruling party.
In Tamil Nadu, where films and film personalities are political, the delay in granting certification to actor-politician Vijay’s ‘Jana Nayagan’ turns the needle of suspicion towards the BJP.
The film got caught in procedural wrangles and the issue is now in the Madras High Court. In a State where films have been political vehicles for actor with political aspirations, preventing its release would smack of political vendetta and the accusation that the censor board was acting as a puppet seems plausible.
For a decade now, opposition parties, especially the Congress, have been crying themselves hoarse against the misuse of central agencies by the BJP. It was repeatedly pointed out how these agencies are unleashed selectively against opposition leaders and how they are let off the hook on joining the BJP.
Moreover, as proof of bias, it has been pointed out that seldom these agencies have acted against the ruling party or its allies.
The non-neutral conduct of central agencies tends to tip the balance in favour of the BJP and without establishing a level-playing field, elections can never be free and fair.
The Election Commission could have taken cognisance of the misuse and taken steps. Similarly, the judiciary could have reined in the agencies. But that was not to be.
When constitutional bodies fail to address the issue satisfactorily, then avoidable political, legal and administrative confrontations become inevitable in battles of political survival.