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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed that the Supreme Court verdict was a “moral victory” not just for her, but also for her police force and the people of India.
“It’s a moral victory; not just for us, but also for the people of India,” she said while speaking from her sit-in protest venue at Kolkata’s Metro Channel.
According to Banerjee, Kolkata Police Commissioner, Rajeev Kumar, had never objected to appear before the CBI. However, he wanted to appear at a “neutral venue”. The Police Commissioner will apparently appear before the CBI at Shillong.
“We never said we will not cooperate. But, Kumar wanted to appear at a neutral venue. The court has vindicated this stand,” she claimed.
According to Banerjee, the Supreme Court order restrains the CBI from taking any “coercive action” like an arrest, which is welcomed.
“It is good that the CBI cannot arrest him at will. This had become a practice under Narendra Modi’s PM-ship. Anyone could be arrested for objecting to them,” she said.
Banerjee alleged that the CBI in a “secret operation” had tried to arrest the Police Commissioner on Sunday evening.
It was an unprecedented show-down between the CBI officials and the state police force that evening, which led to the latter laying siege to CBI offices and detaining the officials.
The stand-off was resolved two hours later, with officials being released and para-military forces being deployed at CBI offices in the city.
Following this stand-off, Banerjee took to the streets protesting against the “high handedness” and launched her “satyagraha” to “save India”.
No call yet on withdrawing dharna
Banerjee, whose dharna entered the third day today, however, did not clearly mention when she would withdraw her dharna. According to her, a call would be taken “after consulting all the concerned parties and leaders”.
“I will talk to all concerned parties who have lent me their support, even the BJD. Post that, I will take a call on whether or not to withdraw the dharna,” Banerjee said.
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