Kolkata/New Delhi: Security was tightened at Lok Bhawan (formerly Raj Bhawan) in Kolkata after West Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose received an e-mail threatening to “blast” him.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been informed about the threat.
The BJP was quick to attack West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee over the law and order situation in the state where elections will be held by April this year, as reported by NDTV.
“Welcome to Mamata Banerjee’s regime, where even the Governor is not safe. Law and order has completely collapsed in West Bengal,” the party’s IT cell head Amit Malviya posted.
The governor, however, seemed quite unfazed and sources said that he even visited Dacres Lane – a well-known lane that serves street food to office-goers near Lok Bhawan – on Friday morning. He interacted with people having breakfast there.
The threat comes in the backdrop of high political drama that was played out in Kolkata on Thursday after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the home and office of I-PAC owner Pratik Jain.
I-PAC is a company that handles strategies of political parties and has been associated with the Trinamool Congress for several years.
Even as the ED raids were in progress, Mamata walked into Jain’s home and office and walked away with files and electronic devices, which she claimed were related to her party’s strategies for the upcoming elections.
Mamata accused the BJP and Union home minister Amit Shah of using the ED to obtain those classified documents. The ED, on its part, has maintained that the raids were carried out in connection of a coal smuggling case that the CBI started investigating in 2020.
Malviya also targeted Mamata for interfering during the raids and posted: “The Home Minister (of the state), Mamata Banerjee, is busy snatching incriminating files from the ED in order to protect a private firm accused of coal smuggling and money laundering. Mamata Banerjee is an unmitigated disaster.”
The political drama shifted beyond Kolkata to New Delhi on Friday with Trinamool Congress MPs protesting outside the office of Union home minister Amit Shah.
The MPs, including Mahua Moitra, were evicted by the Delhi Police, prompting reaction from the Trinamool.
“What kind of arrogance is this, @AmitShah ? Are you now using your Delhi Police to assault elected representatives just to crush democracy? Is this how dissent is silenced in your India,” the party posted on its official X handle.
“Admit it, YOU ARE RATTLED! First, the shameless misuse of the ED. Now, an attack on the peaceful dharna of our eight MPs. This desperation exposes your fear. You may try to choke democracy, but Bengal will not be cowed. Shame on you and your police,” it added.
