Saradha Scam: Mamata Remains Mum as Protests Against Her Grow Louder

Kolkata: "Gali gali may shor hai, Mamata Banerjee chor hai" (In every lane, they are saying Mamata Banerjee is a thief).

A year ago, even after the Saradha chit fund group collapsed, taking millions in depositors' hard-earned money with it, such a slogan against the West Bengal Chief Minister in Kolkata would have been considered as blasphemy. But now, Mamata Banerjee's image is taking a beating.

On Thursday, hundreds of agents and investors of several chit funds, including Saradha, shouted that slogan as they held a march in Kolkata. They have been watching one leader after another of the ruling Trinamool Congress, led by Ms Banerjee, being called by the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI for questioning in connection with the scam; and they are angry.

"There is still time. Let Mamata Banerjee admit she is involved in wrong-doing. Let her try and return the money to the poor. This is our appeal," says Chittaranjan Das, a chit fund agent. He warns that the protests will become much stronger if their appeal is not heard.

Meanwhile, members of the Trinamool Congress' woman's unit sat on a dharna outside the CBI office in Salt Lake near Kolkata. They were protesting, according to them, the CBI's "political vendetta" against their leaders. Leading the dharna was Chandrima Bhattacharya, Law Minister and Minister of State for Health.

"Their attitude and the steps they are taking, it proves they are only bent on maligning Trinamool Congress," she said as her supporters shouted, "CBI hai hai".

In the last fortnight, many leaders of the Trinamool Congress have been called in for questioning by the CBI. Yesterday, Member of Parliament Srinjoy Bose was questioned for almost seven hours.

Rajat Majumdar, who Trinamool leaders described as a "party associate", was arrested on Tuesday and taken into CBI custody today. Another party MP, Ahmed Hassan Imran, was quizzed recently, so was Asif Khan, who publicly quit the Trinamool yesterday after calling it "not clean".

Trinamool Congress's Rajya Sabha lawmaker Kunal Ghosh was arrested last year and is currently being questioned by the CBI. All these leaders allegedly had some link or the other with the Saradha group or its boss Sudipta Sen.

The Opposition is also piling up the charges.

"85 lakh people have suffered in the chit fund scam and many of your ministers and MPs appear to be involved. There are newspaper reports about some of the Saradha money going to terrorist organisations too. Mamata Banerjee, you took a high moral ground on Tehelka (magazine's expose on the coffin scam, over which Ms Banerjee had resigned from the then NDA government), but as the Chief Minister, will you abandon your morality," said BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh.

The silence of Mamata Banerjee, who attended an event on Swami Vivekananda today, on her party men being allegedly tangled in the Saradha web is deafening.