Mamata seeks to overshadow Congress stir

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s showdown with the Enforcement Directorate following raids at the offices of I-PAC, the political Consultant of her party, has multiple dimensions.

- PANKAJ VOHRA

There is no doubt that the Trinamool Congress stalwart has been engaged ina prolonged confrontation with the Centre, and the ED raid is being portrayed as an onslaught by the New Delhi dispensation, with the political aim of defaming her, ahead of the Assembly polls later this year.

However, politics has its own complexities and the protests carried out in Kolkata and the national capital by leaders of the TMC, also pose a number of questions. In a way, this face-off between Mamata and the Centre, also intentionally orinadvertently, has repercussions for the Congress as well.

The Congress had decided to launch a countrywide stir for the restoration of MNREGA, a scheme which wasintroduced during the UPA tenure but now stands superseded by the government's new legislation. The Congress agitation commenced from Saturday but all that happened on the IPAC raid, a day earlier, has made the headlines.

Ttmay appear far-fetched to some but in one way, the TMCCentre fight could completely eclipse the Congress stir, or at least, push it to the footnote space in media coverage. Cynics are wanting to know how the TMC MPs managed to stage a protest at the Home Minister's office in the capital when no such agitation has ever been allowed at the spot for so many years. And why were the Delhi police so lenient on them, and instead of arresting them for breaching the prohibitory orders, merely detained them and let them off after some time?