If Partha can be arrested in school jobs scam, why not Pradhan in NEET case: TMC's Abhishek

PTI, Kolkata, Jul 21, 2024 : If former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee can be arrested in the school recruitment scam, then why can't the central agencies arrest Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the irregularities in NEET, senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee asked on Sunday.

   

Addressing the TMC's Martyr's Day mega rally in Kolkata, Banerjee said the BJP performed poorly in the Lok Sabha elections in the state because it "relied on central agencies and money power" for victory.

Justifying his absence from the public domain for the past month or so on grounds that he was busy reviewing the Lok Sabha poll results, Banerjee also announced that the party would initiate action against the cross-section of leaders who failed to deliver results during the Lok Sabha polls.

"A day after July 21, 2022, the Enforcement Directorate raided Partha Chatterjee's house and arrested him. We don't shield anyone who makes mistakes.

"We don't tolerate injustice. But, if the central agencies can raid Partha Chatterjee's house and arrest him for the SSC-TET scandal, why shouldn't Dharmendra Pradhan be arrested for the NEET scam?" he asked, calling the NEET paper leaks the "biggest scam in India since Independence".

"Why is the ED reluctant to probe the role of Dharmendra Pradhan. Why did a single raid not take place at his residence? Why this political discrimination and hypocrisy?" Banerjee questioned.

The TMC national general secretary claimed that the people of West Bengal "taught the BJP a lesson" in the Lok Sabha polls as its government at the Centre had stopped funds for the state.

"Unable to fight the TMC, the BJP leaders launched an attack to deprive the poor of their rights. They stopped West Bengal's rightful MGNREGA and Awas Yojana funds. They stopped the construction of roads, funds for water, and mid-day meals.

"In return, the people taught them a stern lesson and ended their political future. The BJP wanted to deprive the people but the people of West Bengal gave them a befitting reply," he said, adding BJP's target to surpass 400 seats was halted at 240 by the people of India.

"The BJP had relied on the ED, CBI, and central forces for winning the polls. But we had faith in the people of West Bengal," he said, asking TMC workers to start preparing for the 2026 assembly elections while remaining "restrained, humble and polite with people".

Banerjee, though, left a stern warning for leaders who were found deficient in delivering results for the party in the parliamentary polls.

The fallout of his analyses of the poll results, he said, would be apparent in the next three months.

"I give my word that those panchayat representatives, councillors, municipality chairpersons, or vice-chairpersons, who were unable to persuade the people and get the desired results during these polls, will face stern action. Be it a town president, municipality chairman, gram panchayat pradhan, or area president, similar action will be taken against all and no one will be spared," Banerjee said.

"If people are dissatisfied with someone's performance, the party will not hesitate to take action against the leader concerned," he added.

Alleging that the BJP "weaponised the Sandeshkhali conspiracy, hatched two months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, to malign West Bengal" the TMC MP reminded that the party won Basirhat seat, which houses Sandeshkhali, by a margin of over 3.5 lakh votes.

"Everyone saw the way the BJP orchestrated the Sandeshkhali conspiracy to malign West Bengal in front of the nation. Its Sandeshkhali-2 mandal president Gangadhar Kayal said that on election days, the BJP spends Rs 5,000 per booth on alcohol. There are 80,000 booths in West Bengal, which means that the BJP spent around Rs 40 crore on alcohol on election days," Banerjee claimed.

"They (BJP) can splurge so much money to win elections, but their government at Centre is yet to release a single fraction of the Rs 100 crore for the poor under 100 days' work, depriving the poor," he said.

Interestingly, in the aftermath of friction between the old guards and the new which ostensibly surfaced from the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee echoed the stand that party supremo Mamata Banerjee maintained so far.

"The veterans have to come join the fight with the new members and make this party stronger. The experience of the veterans and the enthusiasm of the new joinees are together the strength of this party," the TMC general secretary said.

Responding to Banerjee's comments on the NEET scam and demand for arrest of Pradhan, BJP state president and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar said that the TMC was deliberately trying to confuse the people.

"In SSC-TET scam, the involvement of the state had been proved by a court monitored probe. But in NEET the irregularities took place in one city and region and the BJP government at the Centre is assisting in the probe. The TMC government in West Bengal had tried every means to stall agency probes into recruitment scams in the past," Majumdar told reporters.