CBI working as BJP’s slave, time to disband it: Mamata Banerjee

The party, which took out a protest rally against Mitra’s arrest, held a meeting at the Dorina crossing in central Kolkata. Mamata who was not scheduled to attend the rally, suddenly joined the meeting.

Launching a scathing attack against the CBI, Mamata said: “The CBI has become the frontal organisation of the BJP. It has become an organisation like RSS. They are working like the slaves of BJP. This organisation should be disbanded.”

“Stay within your limits or face music,” she warned the BJP and the Centre. Mamata said Trinamool MPs will protest against it in Parliament from Monday.

Thanking veteran sportsmen who joined the rally, she termed Mitra’s arrest as an “attack on sports and culture” in the state. Mamata said that Mitra will be “reinstated” in his chair of transport and sports minister after he is released from jail.

“Culture and sports in Bengal are under threat. Mohun Bagan, East Bengal are under threat. Madan Mitra will be the transport and sports minister. For the time being, I will oversee the departments,” said Mamata.

Apparently referring to photos of Mitra sharing dias with Saradha Group Chairman Sudipta Sen, who is now in judicial custody, at a function of its employees union of which he was stated to be the president, Mamata said: “If an image is a proof of criminal conspiracy, then the PM should be arrested for Sahara scam. There are images of several CPM leaders with chit fund owners. There are images of the PM with the Sahara chief. Should we arrest the PM? A red diary was obtained after raiding Sahara office. It had several big names…”

Alleging that Mitra was called as witness to the CBI office and was arrested hours after, Mamata said it was done following a phone call from Delhi.

Asking her party men to politically fight BJP, the TMC chief said, “They (BJP) are trying to start riots in the state. We will never let them make this possible. What will happen if we start arresting them? It is time to hit the streets…”

She added: “We returned money to 5 lakh people. How many people got their money back after the CBI took over? Chit funds are under the jurisdiction of the Centre. Why did they sit over our anti-chit fund law for so long? The BJP is playing politics of vindictiveness. We did not arrest a single CPM leader after coming to power. The man who was arrested and was in jail for 60 days is pointing fingers at us.”

“Some people think they can counter us by using CBI as political tool. What I say is always distorted by some media houses. Has the CBI caught the people who killed Tapasi Malik in Singur? Have they caught the perpetrators of Netai violence? They are trying to destroy sports infrastructure in Bengal. They are targeting iconic football clubs,” she added.