New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) Eight Trinamool Congress MPs staged a protest on Friday outside the office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital. The MPs held placards reading, “Bengal rejects Modi-Shah’s dirty politics”, and accused the Centre of targeting the opposition through central agencies.

The Trinamool Congress MPs who participated in the dharna were Derek O’Brien, Satabdi Roy, Mahua Moitra, Bapi Haldar, Saket Gokhale, Pratima Mondal, Kirti Azad, and Dr Sharmila Sarkar. The protest was held ahead of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s rally in Kolkata against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC.

During the demonstration, Trinamool Congress MPs raised slogans and alleged that the BJP-led Centre was misusing investigative agencies to harass opposition parties ahead of elections. Visuals from the site showed MPs holding placards criticising what they described as “dirty politics” being practised by the Modi government.

Derek O’Brien and Mahua Moitra were detained by police while protesting outside the Home Minister’s office. The brief detention took place as security personnel attempted to prevent the protesters from blocking access to the premises.

After being detained, Derek O’Brien said, “Why are we being detained? Look at this. You are seeing what is happening with Amit Shah’s Delhi Police. You are seeing what is happening to MPs. All our MPs have been taken into custody.”

The protest follows Enforcement Directorate raids conducted on Thursday at the Kolkata office of I-PAC and the residence of its chief and co-founder, Pratik Jain. During the raids, CM Mamata Banerjee reportedly visited the search locations, accusing the central agency of attempting to “loot” sensitive documents related to the Trinamool Congress.

Acting on a call given by party supremo and CM Mamata Banerjee, leaders and workers of the Trinamool Congress on Thursday evening held protest rallies across the state to condemn the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at the Kolkata office of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its director and co-founder, Pratik Jain.

The ED on Thursday conducted search operations at the Salt Lake Sector V office of I-PAC, which has been working as a political consultancy firm for the Trinamool Congress since 2019. ED teams also searched the Loudon Street residence of Pratik Jain, who is a co-founder and director of I-PAC.

Following the searches, CM Mamata Banerjee visited Jain’s residence in central Kolkata. While leaving the premises, she was seen carrying documents and a laptop, which she said belonged to the Trinamool Congress and were related to the party’s upcoming Assembly elections.

Banerjee later went to the I-PAC office in Salt Lake. During her visit, police officials accompanying her were seen removing files and diaries from the office and placing them inside her vehicle.

The West Bengal CM alleged that the ED, under the guise of conducting raids, had ‘looted’ documents related to the party’s election strategy, candidate list, internal data and financial papers.

–IANS

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