GUWAHATI: In a press conference held in Guwahati, Ripun Bora, the President of Assam Trinamool Congress (TMC) and former Member of Parliament, expressed concerns regarding the alleged misuse of India's national investigative agencies, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
During the conference, Bora stated that, over the nine-year tenure of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government from 2014 to 2023, there has been a perceived misuse of the CBI and ED, which are constitutionally autonomous bodies, for political interests.
Bora emphasised that these agencies, instead of addressing economic offences and other crimes, have been used to target political opponents of the BJP government, raising concerns about the health of Indian democracy and its constitution.
The conference highlighted the following key points to support these claims:
During the second term of the BJP-led NDA government (2019 to 2023), the CBI and ED reportedly registered cases against 95 per cent of opposition political leaders, according to an annexure provided by Bora.
The list included cases against leaders from various opposition parties, such as Congress, TMC, NCP, Shiv Sena, DMK, BJD, RJD, BSP, SP, TDP, AAP, INLD, YSRCP, CPM, NC, PDP, Independent, MNS, and TRS.
The President of Assam TMC pointed out the apparent bias in these cases, citing that during the ten-year tenure of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, only 14 of the 26 cases registered by the CBI and ED were against opposition political leaders.
Additionally, there were no instances of cases being registered against BJP leaders during 2014-2023.
Bora questioned the pending cases against BJP leaders, asserting that tainted leaders have seemingly been "cleaned" under the BJP government.
The conference raised questions about the BJP government's silence on several high-profile financial scams involving close associates of the party.
These include individuals like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi, and Mehul Choksi, who were allegedly involved in multi-crore rupee scams and fled the country.
Bora called for accountability and the extradition of these individuals back to India.
A detailed list of 56 opposition leaders raided or arrested during the BJP's rule from 2014 to 2023 was provided during the press conference.
