Under threat: the 'invincible' shield

TT, March 14: Saradha once, Narada now.

A sting operation by a news portal has shown images resembling almost every lieutenant of Mamata Banerjee grabbing wads of cash or telling a representative of a fictitious company where to hand over the money to ensure favours for the firm.

The images on the tape resembled some of the most familiar faces that surround the chief minister and wield power: Subrata Mukherjee, Sovan Chatterjee, Mukul Roy, Sultan Ahmad, Subhendu Adhikari, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Banerjee, Madan Mitra and Saugata Roy.

The ownership of the sting for the portal, Narada News, has been taken by Mathew Samuel, who was part of the pioneering Tehelka operation that felled the then BJP president Bangaru Laxman in 2001.

The Trinamul Congress has dismissed the sting as a dirty tricks campaign by a desperate Opposition. The following points have been cited by party sources to dismiss the operation as a smear campaign.

• The Bengal sting operation was carried out before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, almost two years ago.

• The timing of the disclosure - close to the Assembly polls next month - raises questions. So does the motive behind the nearly two-year wait.

• The authenticity of the footage is yet to be verified. However, the Trinamul rebuttal appeared to focus on questioning the timing and the motive, not on outright denial that such encounters had taken place at all.

But the Opposition is banking on the following factors:

• The all-season honesty wall Mamata has erected around Trinamul no longer looks impregnable.

• Narada will be the issue of the campaign for the Assembly elections.

• Trinamul is dismissing the sting as inconsequential but Mamata should remember that she walked out of the Vajpayee government over the Tehelka issue. "Now, why is she silent?" asked Pradip Bhattacharya, Congress MP.

• Legal issues are involved. After the Tehelka operation, a CBI special judge had settled two key questions. One, the judge held that a bribe taker is liable for action even if the money was given on behalf of a fictitious entity. Two, the journalists could not be made defendants as they had acted as whistleblowers although the methods they had adopted could be considered objectionable. Laxman was eventually convicted.

Without referring to the sting, Mamata said today: "The CPM, the Congress and the BJP have come together and resorted to dirty politics. They cannot fight us politically and are trying to malign us. The people will give them a fitting reply."

"The Saradha controversy could not affect us. Let us see what the Narada video does to our party," said a Trinamul insider.

However, party leaders conceded in private that the Opposition appeared to have stumbled on a goldmine on the eve of the elections.

"Undoubtedly, the poll campaign would now be focused on the sting. This time, the battle would be very close as the Opposition parties have ganged up.... In a closely contested election, such issues may have an impact," said a Trinamul leader.

Never have images resembling so many household names in Bengal been shown taking money - that too with an impunity that radiated a sense of immunity.

The cringe-worthiness of some of the statements mouthed by the images is unparalleled. Samples: Asked by the representative of the fictitious Impex Consultancy whether he wanted more, one person says: "If you have." Another says: "This (election) expenditure observer, if they got a clue or something, this party will be wiped out. This party will go for a sixer."

And one person takes the cake by declaring: "If we get involved in small stuff, what will the kids do?"

A person resembling Calcutta mayor Sovan Chatterjee is seen boasting, while receiving bundles of cash and wrapping them in a towel as if it is an everyday chore: "Mamatadir purotai ami dekhe nichchhi (I am looking after everything for Mamatadi)."

The trumpeting runs the risk of cracking open what has so far been seen as an invincible armour that Mamata has built around her party: honesty.

Saradha found some chinks in the armour but before the rapier thrust could be made, the investigation appeared to have lost steam amid whispers that a quid pro quo had been struck in New Delhi. Ironically, the Saradha scam was made an issue in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls not by the Bengal tigers but by the would-be Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Narada has picked up from where Saradha had left off.

Trinamul's official reaction was guarded, laying stress on the circumstances under which the footage was released and without going into specifics such as whether the leaders had met the representative of the fictitious company or not.

Trinamul spokesperson Derek O'Brien said in a statement: "We have watched the video of the so-called 'sting' operation. There is no sting in it. We are completely dismissive about it.

"All I can say to our shameless political opponents is, come, fight us politically. Do not take recourse to your dirty tricks department. The timing of the dirty tricks video too clearly indicates the devious motive behind it. Why was the organisation who supposedly shot this video hiding the so-called 'truth' for more than two years and releasing it today?

"We are focused on the upcoming elections and do not wish to be distracted by this smear campaign. We live in an age where technology is often abused.

"This is a deliberate attempt to malign the All India Trinamool Congress. But the people of Bengal know better. They trust the credibility and credentials of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. After the people have spoken on 19 May (Assembly poll result day), you will see for yourselves what the people of Bengal think of this so-called 'sting' operation."

Unsurprisingly, the Opposition lapped up the footage and upped the ante on Mamata.

"I have received this video. This is how public money is being looted in Bengal. The EC should step in. If required, President's rule should be imposed while the case is probed," said Surjya Kanta Mishra, state CPM secretary.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who said the tapes appeared to be genuine but sought an investigation to establish their veracity, said: "Parliament should also take cognisance of this sting operation and act as MPs have been shown taking money."

The Congress, the Left's tactical ally, said the polls should be deferred till a probe was carried out.

" Asli chehra nikal aaya hai (Their real face has come out)," said BJP national secretary and co-minder for the state, Sidharth Nath Singh. "All big leaders have been exposed in the sting operation. Mamata must resign immediately.... We have written to the CBI director."

On a day the full bench of the Election Commission of India was in Calcutta, the BJP requested the central poll panel to bar the accused ministers from contesting the polls. Other political parties also brought the matter to the poll panel's attention.

The sting coincided with the ninth anniversary of the Nandigram carnage, which helped catapult Mamata to power in 2011.

Another milestone date: the Bangaru tapes were released on March 13, 2001. Today is March 14, the eve of the Ides of March.