‘Why has ED woken up before Bengal polls when I-PAC probe linked to 2022 Goa elections?’: TMC MP Saket Gokhale
“Eight (TMC) MPs were peacefully protesting at Kartavya Bhavan … (but) MPs were dragged and handled brutally … Is this how sitting MPs are treated in the capital of India?” asks Rajya Sabha MP.
TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale speaks to The Indian Express about the ED’s allegations and raids, Banerjee’s interventions and the Assembly elections. 
Since the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided 10 locations in Kolkata and Delhi linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC, a high-pitched political drama has been unfolding in the poll-bound state.
I-PAC, which counts West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) among its most prominent clients, is under the ED’s scanner in connection with an alleged coal smuggling and money laundering case, the central agency said. On Friday, TMC MPs attempted to protest outside the Union Ministry of Home Affairs but were detained by the police.
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The TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale speaks to The Indian Express about the ED’s allegations and raids, Banerjee’s interventions and the Assembly elections. Excerpts:
* Why are raids on I-PAC such a big issue for the TMC?
I-PAC is a political consultancy firm that’s been working with the TMC for five years. This essentially means that I-PAC has access to or possesses a lot of documents that are related to the TMC’s electoral strategy, campaign strategy, and internal surveys conducted for us. So, this is privileged information for a political party. When the ED gets its hands on election-related documents, we have to safeguard them.
* As per the ED, these searches were connected to coal smuggling and there are transactions involving I-PAC. What is the TMC’s response to these allegations?
I read the ED’s statement. The transactions they’re claiming are related to I-PAC and are from the 2022 Goa Assembly elections.
We’re in January 2025 with less than two months to go for the Bengal Assembly elections. Why has the ED suddenly woken up? What a coincidence that they found this money trail, which is related to the Goa elections that happened over four years ago, a month and a half before the Bengal elections?
You’ve done the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and they realise it has been a failure in Bengal because of the groundwork the TMC put in to ensure that not a single voter gets left out. And suddenly, the ED wakes up.
I-PAC ED raids: Mamata Banerjee at a protest rally in Kolkata on Friday (Express Photo: Partha Paul)
* The BJP has alleged that the Bengal police is being misused, that police officers took away documents from the I-PAC office. Why were the police used?
Because the ED raid was illegal. The simple thing when you collect devices, even the law says that when you see the device, you have to get a hash value (or a digital fingerprint that records changes after a seizure) generated … Did the ED follow any of these procedures while seizing electronic devices yesterday?
So, if the enforcement agency is conducting an illegal activity on behalf of a political party, what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to send a mob of TMC workers to stop them? No. If someone is carrying out something illegal, the police are bound to intervene.
* Some Opposition parties in Bengal, which happen to be your INDIA bloc allies, including the Congress, have alleged I-PAC is engaging in “vote manipulation”.
These parties are not our allies at the Centre. The TMC fought alone in the Lok Sabha elections. In the state, too, the TMC fights alone. The INDIA bloc comprises like-minded parties. The INDIA bloc wasn’t an electoral alliance. We are not a part of any electoral alliance.
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* But what is your answer to Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s allegation of I-PAC’s involvement in “vote manipulation”?
I don’t think his own party takes him too seriously.
* The CM has lodged complaints based on which FIRs have been filed against ED officials and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). Does this set a worrying precedent?
The CM, like any ordinary citizen, is filing an FIR because she was aggrieved as her party’s confidential documents were being taken.
* What happened during the protest of TMC MPs in Delhi on Friday morning?
Eight MPs were peacefully protesting at Kartavya Bhavan, which is where the new office of the Home Ministry is. The idea was to protest outside Amit Shah’s office peacefully … The visuals are very clear about how MPs were dragged and handled brutally. You could have let us sit and protest. We would have left. You send the police to drag MPs by the hair and their clothes and detain them… Is this how sitting MPs are treated in the capital of India? Imagine what the ordinary person must be treated like.
Check all the latest updates around the ED’s raids at I-PAC offices in Kolkata and Delhi here.
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