The confrontation between the Enforcement Directorate and the Trinamool Congress intensified on Friday as the political dispute reached the doorstep of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. The escalation came a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a dramatic visit to locations linked to the Indian Political Action Committee following ED raids in Kolkata.
On Friday morning, eight All India Trinamool Congress MPs staged a sit-in protest outside Amit Shah’s office. The MPs were later detained by the police. The protest was held in response to ED searches conducted on Thursday at the office of I-PAC and the residence of its head, Pratik Jain. The MPs accused the central government of using investigative agencies to target opposition parties ahead of upcoming elections.
During the demonstration, MPs held placards and raised slogans criticising the Centre. Visuals from the site showed messages alleging political vendetta against the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. TMC MP Mahua Moitra was seen being carried away by policewomen while shouting slogans against the action. The protest was led by Mahua Moitra, Derek O’Brien, Satabdi Roy, Bapi Haldar, Saket Gokhale, Pratima Mondal, Kirti Azad, and Dr Sharmila Sarkar.
The Indian Political Action Committee serves as a political consultancy for the TMC and manages aspects of its information technology and media operations. The current standoff began after ED teams conducted searches at the residence of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain and at the organisation’s Kolkata office. During the raids, Mamata Banerjee visited the premises, alleging that the agency was seizing sensitive party documents.
Videos of the chief minister confronting officials and evading media personnel circulated widely on social media. In the footage, Banerjee was seen holding documents she claimed to have retrieved during the search. The ED later stated that the search proceedings were peaceful until the chief minister arrived with a large police contingent.
Launching a sharp attack on the BJP-led central government, under which the ED operates, Mamata Banerjee described the raids as politically motivated. She accused the Union Home Minister of misusing constitutional institutions to intimidate opposition parties before elections. In a strongly worded statement, she questioned the intent behind the searches and criticised the functioning of the central agencies.
“This is not law enforcement,” Banerjee said while addressing the media. She alleged that investigative agencies were being deployed to harass political opponents instead of serving national interests. Her remarks further intensified the political confrontation between the Centre and the Trinamool Congress.
The protests in Delhi and the events in Kolkata have added to growing tensions between the ruling party at the Centre and the West Bengal government, with both sides trading sharp accusations over the role and use of central investigative agencies.
