West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the “media trial” following the arrest of her cabinet colleague and TMC leader Partha Chatterjee in connection with a school recruitment scam.
She said that anyone who is found guilty must be punished but media playing the role of a “kangaroo court” is unacceptable.
Talking about the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) proceedings against Partha Chatterjee and media coverage on it, the West Bengal CM said, “When you run a big institution, there can be mistakes. If anyone has committed any mistake, and it is proven legally, he or she must be punished.”
“But I am against any malicious media campaign. Media is playing the role of kangaroo (court). A senior judge also said that recently,” she added.
Mamata Banerjee then suggested that BJP will not come to power in 2024 saying unemployment in India is increasing by 40% but it has decreased by 45% in Bengal. “Today media trial is going on and they are calling people accused. They just want to create a bad impression of Bengal,” she said.
She further added, “They (BJP) have no work, their job is to take over the state governments through 3-4 agencies. They’ve taken Maharashtra, now Jharkhand but Bengal has defeated them. It’s not easy to break Bengal as you have to fight the Royal Bengal Tiger first.”
Banerjee also asserted that anyone was proven guilty by the court must be punished but probe “agencies must not be used to malign political parties”.
Partha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged School Service Commission (SSC) scam in West Bengal on Saturday.
The ED unearthed many disproportionate assets of Partha Chatterjee since his arrest, of which were three flats in West Bengal’s Diamond City.
The arrest of Partha Chatterjee followed Rs 21 crore in cash and jewellery worth above Rs 1 crore being recovered from the Kolkata residence of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of the former education minister.
