Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday slammed the Centre over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on I-PAC, alleging that the central agency’s objective was not investigation but “stealing political information” to settle scores on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2026 assembly polls.
Addressing a conclave of the party’s digital volunteers, ‘Ami Banglar Digital Joddha’, Banerjee questioned both the intent and the selectivity of the ED action, claiming that the raid was designed to create a political narrative against the ruling party rather than pursue a legitimate probe.
“The ED says it came to investigate the coal scam. That case is more than three years old and they have not summoned anyone all this time. They can come, but their purpose was information theft,” Banerjee alleged, marking the first time he directly accused the agency of attempting to appropriate TMC’s internal data.
Banerjee questioned why the central agency chose to target only the Kolkata-based director when I-PAC has three directors operating from Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi. “If the investigation is genuine, why were offices and residences in other states not searched? And if a director’s house is being searched, why go to the Bengal office at all?” he asked.
“And, if the case is against one director, why target the office? This is meant to create an impression that the organisation itself is guilty,” alleged Banerjee.
In a bid to motivate the workers ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, Banerjee also compared the party’s organisational strength to the three wings of the armed forces.
“The grassroots workers responsible for booth-level activities, campaigning, and organising rallies is the army; party representatives who fight for the people in Parliament and the courts (including me) is the navy; and the social media volunteers tasked with countering misinformation and promoting the party’s narratives online using data and logic is the air force,” Banerjee said.
Launching an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Banerjee said, “The nations’s biggest content creator is the PM himself. His entire move is based on PR and content. But personally, I do not spend much time on the social media although my screen time exceeds 10-12 hours. Some of our co-workers speak and write really well. I urge them to highlight how there is an attempt to attack the culture of Bengal.”
“Not everything needs to be politicised. Make sure that the future generation remembers Bengal’s contribution and history. In 1905, Lord Curzon stepped back before dividing Bengal. He bowed down to Bengal’s strength. Can PM Modi-led government really break the same Bengal?” he asked.
“There is an app called ‘Didir Doot’. We are also on Facebook and Instagram where you have the option to message us directly. We also have Whatsapp channels and we are on X. You can connect with us there,” Banerjee said.
“This is the first time that we are conducting a conclave of this scale. I remember the first conclave was in 2018. But it was smaller. But next time if we conduct a conclave, we will do it in Netaji Indoor Stadium with around 20,000 people. But I’ll keep in touch with you,” Banerjee added.
With inputs from PTI