DIDI DHARNA DRAMA FOR ‘SAVE INDIA’ by Pavithran

Unbiased observers will definitely feel terribly upset by the dharna politics resorted to by Didi – a constitutional post holder - CM of West Bengal and they will definitely come to the conclusion that Didi Dharna is not for ‘Save India’ as portrayed but to ‘Save Didi from Investigation in Scam’.

Details of the Scam only point out to that logical conclusion.

Mamata Bannerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal, in order to protect Rajeev Kumar, his Kolkata Police Commissioner from being questioned by the CBI Officials on the 3rd February 2019 – Sunday in Saradha Chit Fund Case, had gone to his house in the night and the CBI Officials at the gate of Rajeev Kumar’s residence were arrested by the Kolkata Police apart from surrounding the office of local CBI Chief and his residence.

Then she sat on Dharna to condemn Modi’s Vendetta’s politics under the banner of ‘Save India’ at Metro Channel - the same spot where she had undertaken her successful 26 day fast to unseat Communists’ Government thirteen years ago over the Singur land acquisition propelling her to Writers’ Buildings. For obvious reasons, the arrested CBI Officials who were held in a nearby police station were released – perhaps fearing some constitutional backlash.

Rajeev Kumar and other senior police officers were seen sitting along with CM in dharna for which, now, the Central Government had instructed the Mamata to initiate disciplinary action.

It is unlikely that Didi will respond positively and this again will create face off between centre and state.

Didi had got support from almost all opposition parties including Congress for her ‘Save India’  dharna, but, how far the people of Bengal in particular and Indian People in General is going to look this political drama in the larger context of containing Corruption and punishing the culprits.

As lacs of poor investors and local agents in West Bengal and other surrounding States such as Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura and Chhattisgarh due to this chit fund scam had suffered financial loss and agitating for justice and refund of their hard earned money, it is very much doubtful how long the opposition parties will rally behind Didi.

Didi’s charisma of late is showing signs of diminishing returns with the public at large and the Communists are also marking their time to come back as a force challenging her.  To Didi’s anger, the BJP is gaining ground in West Bengal as the second political party to TMC pushing even communists to the third position.

The Supreme Court had directed Rajeev Kumar to appear and make himself available to the CBI and faithfully co-operate with the CBI at all times and had suggested a neutral place Shillong in Meghalaya and not anywhere in West Bengal, least of all in politically charged Kolkata.

It is unlikely that Didi will respond positively and this again will create face off between centre and state.

Didi had got support from almost all opposition parties including Congress for her ‘Save India’  dharna, but, how far the people of Bengal in particular and Indian People in General is going to look this political drama in the larger context of containing Corruption and punishing the culprits.

As lacs of poor investors and local agents in West Bengal and other surrounding States such as Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura and Chhattisgarh due to this chit fund scam had suffered financial loss and agitating for justice and refund of their hard earned money, it is very much doubtful how long the opposition parties will rally behind Didi.

Didi’s charisma of late is showing signs of diminishing returns with the public at large and the Communists are also marking their time to come back as a force challenging her.  To Didi’s anger, the BJP is gaining ground in West Bengal as the second political party to TMC pushing even communists to the third position.

The Supreme Court had directed Rajeev Kumar to appear and make himself available to the CBI and faithfully co-operate with the CBI at all times and had suggested a neutral place Shillong in Meghalaya and not anywhere in West Bengal, least of all in politically charged Kolkata.

The Supreme Court had also barred the CBI from taking any coercive steps, including arrest. Further, the SC issued notice on a contempt petition filed by the CBI against the Chief Secretary, the DGP and Mr.Kumar.

Such observations are an indirect indictment about the lawlessness prevailing in Didi State, but, Didi, as a shrewd politician, had quick to respond that it is a victory for her darna heavily relying on ‘No Arrest’ dictum of the Court and had called off her 2 days dharna in the presence of Chandrababu Naidu, the CM of Andhra Pradesh.

The Hindu in its editorial had remarked: Her Act speaks poorly of her political maturity – To hold a dharna in aid of an officer who is required for questioning does her no credit.

Now let us briefly bring out the important points in the multi-crore Saradha ponzi scam.

Saradha Group of Companies were incorporated in 2006 by Sudipta Sen, the Chairman of the chit fund group. Companies promised astronomical returns to lure the gullible depositors through local rural agents on a hefty commission between 25 and 40% of the deposits collected along with lucrative gifts to quickly build up a wide agent pyramid.

Sudipto Sen’s credential shows that he is not a man to be trusted and his honesty is very much wanting. At the time of his arrest, he was in his mid-50s. In his youth, he was known as Shankaraditya Sen, and was part of the Naxalite movement in West Bengal. He changed his name to Sudipto Sen and may have had plastic surgery sometime in the 1990s,[ after which he became associated with land development projects in South Kolkata. The land bank he formed in around 2000 became the catalyst for enticing early customers into his Ponzi scheme.

The group collected around £ 2000 crore from approximately 17 lacs persons from West Bengal and surrounding States.

The group had floated around 200 shell companies for the purpose of money laundering to evade taxes and regulators.  Under the guise of chit fund which comes under the State Regulations, the company was collecting deposits by issuing debentures and redeemable preferential bonds ‘collective investment schemes (CIS)’ for which one needs the approval and monitoring of SEBI. This was noticed even on 2009 and the West Bengal Government was duly warned with proof in the year 2011. But, the company had changed its methods by acquiring and selling large numbers of shares of various listed companies in order to embezzle through shell companies. Saradha Group started laundering a large portion of its funds to Dubai, South Africa and Singapore.

There were also allegations about Saradha Group in helping terrorists through Ahmed Hassan Imran, a TMC MP and founder member of Student Islamic Movement of India who was alleged to have engaged Jammat-e-Islami, a Bangladesh extremist organization, to move money out of India. Jamaat-e-Islami used its brokerage from the laundering operation to fuel its militant protests against the war crime trials of its founders and destablise the Awami League government in Bangladesh. Hence it is more than financial – rather Saradha Group’s money was being utilized for anti-Indian and other terrorists activities here and neighboring Bangladesh.

 Only in 2012, SEBI was able to classify the group’s activities as collective investment schemes (CIS) and not chit funds and demanded to stop its operations immediately, but, due to its connections with high profile TMC politicians – MPS and Ministers including Didi, Saradha Group continued its operations until its collapse in April 2013.

Even the warning sounded by the RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao on 7th December 2012 and his advice to initiate suo motu action against Saradha Group for indulging in financial malpractice were ignored by the Didi Government.

In January 2013, the group’s cash inflow was less than its cash payouts and the company could not pay to the depositors and agents and on 6th April 2013, Sen wrote an 18 page confessional letter to the CBI, in which he admitted that he had paid large sums of money to several politicians and that TMC leader Kunal Ghosh had forced him to enter into loss making media ventures and blackmailed him into selling one of his television channels at below market price and fled on 10th April to Kashmir. In the letter, Sen claimed that he had not only paid hefty pay-out amounts to Trinamool leaders but also influential Congress leader in Assam Matang Sinh, and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram’s wife Nalini Chidambaram.

Further Sen had stated that Mamata Bannerjee paintings were bought for ₹1.8 crore. 

Despondency quickly spread across Bengal and the following news report will indicate the alarming situation: “The entire East Bengal looks like it was hit by a cyclone. Every home has a bankrupt depositor or a fugitive agent. Happy households became miserable. Students stopped going to school. Traders lost interest in opening shutters.”

According to media reports, around 210 agents, depositors and executives or directors of various money pooling companies had committed suicide in the aftermath of the Saradha Group’s collapse.

On 23rd April 2013, Sudipto Sen, Debjani Mukherjee and Arvind Singh Chauhan were arrested in Sonmarg, Kashmir and SEBI directed to stop their business and return all deposits within three months.

On 22nd April 2013, Didi instituted a four member judicial enquiry commission to probe the scam  refusing to CBI Investigation and on 24th April 2013, Didi had created a £ 500 crore relief fund for the low income depositors of the Saradha Group, by introducing a 10% additional tax on tobacco products and her request to smokers ‘to light up a little more’ to fund her relief measure was condemned and many had raised objection ‘how can the tax payers money be made available for such fraudulent company?’ The propriety of the fund was also questioned by the Governor of RBI, but, Didi was determined to pursue her agenda.

Much against opposition, Bengal Govt. had set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under Didi’s Man Friday – Rajeev Kumar instead of CBI. Didi staunchly opposed all investigations by CBI and ED stating that Kumar is a best police officer doing an excellent job!  But, due to PILs, the Supreme Court had ordered a CBI probe instead of Didi sponsored SIT into the matter in May, 2014 in view of the inter-state ramifications and the larger conspiracy angle in mind. It also directed the state agencies to assist the CBI in its investigation. The West Bengal government had opposed the CBI inquiry into the scam in the Court.

Now the Saradha scam is being investigated by the CBI under the direct control of Supreme Court, but, the Didi Government is not allowing CBI to do its job and Didi wanted to politicize the investigation to her advantage.  Shielding a police officer from being questioned by CBI and creating various hurdles for CBI – her latest one being ‘without permission, no CBI can enter Bengal’ – are all point out her dictorial mind set and only power of vote alone can soften Didi to act sensibly. It is strange politics that opposition parties are not ready to throw their weights in assisting the poor depositors to get their hard earned money back, but, fighting in the streets for their political agenda. Time is ripe to show Didi – her place in the political arena and unless she changes her mood and track, she is going to meet her waterloo.

Damning Further Details That Call for Didi’s Answers – Ground Shaking for Didi?

qSatabdi Roy – Actress and TMC MP was recruited  by Saradha for its media platform.

qMithun Chakroborty – Bollywood actor and TMC MP – was Saradha’s Brand Ambassador of Saradha Group’s Media platform.

qKunal Ghosh, TMC MP – CEO of Saradha Media Group: Acquired and established local television channels and newspapers, investing around £ 1000 crore in the media group. MP Kunal Ghosh drew salary of around £ 160 lacs per month. Didi government issued a notification that public libraries should buy and display Saradha Group newspapers.

q Madan Mitra - Transport Minister of Didi & Leader of Employees’ Union, publicly canvassed to invest in Saradhal.

Tail Piece:

Senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan: In 2013, this Congress Leader had filed a plea for transfer of case from Bengal SIT to CBI and had succeeded.

On the other hand, Congress was said to be supporting Didi – Shoulder to Shoulder!

Rahul had also called Didi within hours of her taking to the streets to protest against the CBI, and extended the party’s support. Ahmed Patel, sources added, had also called Banerjee on multiple occasions. 

DIDI Tirade against CBI Probe under  Cover of Federalism

Kunal Ghosh  TMC MP was arrested by SIT in November 2013 after he posted a list of 12 names on his Facebook page; these included at least four TMC MPs and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well.

Didi government is said to be hostile to the CBI in the case of Saradha scam and was accused of damaging evidences that had led to the delay in filing the final charge sheet.

Didi Government again under Federalism decided to withdraw the general consent to the CBI to conduct raids and investigations.

In 2011, Saradha Group bought Global Automobiles, a heavily indebted motorcycle company as a front as a shell company  and the company immediately stopped most production but kept 150 workers on its payroll who pretended to work whenever truckloads and busloads of prospective depositors of Saradha Realty visited the plant for a first-hand check before investing.  It also bought similar shell companies like West Bengal Awadhoot Agro Private Ltd, located in North 24-Parganas and Landmark Cement in Bankura to showcase them to agents and depositors and convince them that the Saradha Group had diversified interests.

On 11 September 2014, West Bengal law minister Chandrima Bhattacharya led around 100 TMC women supporters in a sit-in protest against CBI, alleging a biased and politically motivated probe. Now, Didi herself had taken up the task of preventing the CBI from the investigation using all her might misusing her constitutional position.

Didi seems to think that She is above Law and Law should take only Didi’s course.