The Congress on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should "shed light" on why CBI and ED action against Suvendu Adhikari and Tapas Roy stalled after they joined the BJP and asked how the ruling party can make pretensions about eradicating corruption when its "washing machine" is at full spin in West Bengal.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posed several questions to the prime minister ahead of his rallies in West Bengal.
"Does the prime minister have any solutions to the Kurmi community's demands? Can the prime minister clarify his stance on his Tamluk candidate Abhijit Ganguly's anti-national statements? Did Suvendu Adhikari's CBI case get washed away in BJP's washing machine?" Ramesh said in a post on X.
Elaborating on what he called "jumla details", the Congress general secretary alleged that the Modi government "shamelessly" used the Kurmi community to play vote bank politics without addressing any of their demands.
"The community has long demanded ST (Scheduled Tribe) status but the Modi sarkar continues to drag its heels on the matter, despite the state government submitting the Cultural Research Institute report to the Centre in 2017. Their upper caste leaders have been especially dismissive of the Kurmis' demand," Ramesh said.
"The BJP has also repeatedly refused to recognize the Kurmis' cultural identity, ignoring their demands to recognize their unique religious practices known as sari and sarana. Why has the BJP deceived the Kurmis and strung them along for so many years?" he said.
The Congress' Nyay Patra guarantees a nationwide caste survey to ensure that every backward community in India has access to the opportunities they deserve, Ramesh said.
"Will the outgoing prime minister ever stop paying lip service to the Kurmi community's cause and meaningfully commit himself to a caste census? Will he recognize the Kurmi community's religious practices?" he asked.
Ramesh further said that Justice (Retd) Ganguly's resignation to contest elections for the BJP raised serious questions about the independence of India's judiciary.
"Now, Mr Ganguly's commitment to Indian nationalism has also come into question. When asked to choose between Gandhi and Godse, Mr Ganguly said he would need 'time to think' about this choice. This is especially worrying at a time when BJP's MPs and MP candidates are talking about amending the constitution all over the country," the Congress leader said.
"Can the prime minister clarify his stance on choosing between Gandhi and Godse? Does he also need time to think?" he asked.
Ramesh said that in April 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR against the then-Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Suvendhu Adhikari in connection with the Narada scam.
"In April 2019, the CBI sought sanction from the Lok Sabha speaker to prosecute him. In December 2020, Adhikari joined the BJP, and the CBI never received the Lok Sabha speaker's sanction. Similarly, TMC leader Tapas Roy was raided by the ED (Enforcement Directorate) in January this year in connection with a money-laundering case, and by March, he had also joined the BJP," he said.
"Just a few months before his joining, Suvendu Adhikari had alleged that Tapas Roy was involved in a municipal recruitment scam but this allegation also disappeared once Roy joined the party. The prime minister's 'Bhrashtachar Hatao' slogan is shamelessly plastered all over the country even as his party is busy handing tickets to corrupt politicians," Ramesh alleged.
He asked if the prime minister could shed light on why CBI and ED action against these leaders have been stalled.
"How can the BJP make pretensions to eradicating corruption when their 'washing machine' is clearly at full spin in West Bengal?" Ramesh said and asked the prime minister to break his "silence" on these issues.
Ramesh had earlier claimed that the BJP and the BJD (Biju Janata Dal) are in cahoots and asked Modi to come clean on his party's association with Odisha's ruling party.
Ramesh also posed several questions to the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Odisha.
"Why have the Mahanadi and Kathajodi rivers been poisoned under the Modi sarkar? Why are Odisha's poorest being exploited through GST? Naveen and Narendra are two sides of the same coin. Why is the prime minister lying about his party's 'relationship status' with the BJD?" Ramesh asked.
He said the BJP and the BJD's official seat-sharing negotiations earlier this year only confirmed what was already known -- despite officially claiming to be in opposition, "the two parties are in cahoots with each other".
In the last 10 years, BJD MPs in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha bailed out the Modi government on every contentious bill, including no-confidence motions, he said.
The BJD even supported the Rajya Sabha candidature of BJP leader Ashwini Vaishnav, Ramesh said.
"For its part, the Modi sarkar has spared the BJD all the bullying and intimidation that it usually reserves for opposition states -- there has been no onslaught of ED-CBI inquiries and raids, and no meddling by the Raj Bhawan," he said.
"Can the prime minister come clean on his party's association with the BJD? Is this a marriage or is it a partnership? Will the prime minister apologize for misleading the people of the state by having his party sit in the opposition ranks while colluding with the ruling BJD?" Ramesh asked and urged Modi to break his "silence" on these issues.