The BJP on March 25 alleged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was trying to provoke a constitutional crisis and accused the West Bengal Police of threatening customs officials who tried to check luggage of two women, including a relative of the TMC chief, at the Kolkata airport.
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters the state government seems to be working to protect a family — a reference to Mamata Banerjee’s MP nephew Abhishek, whose wife’s luggage the officials tried to check. The chief minister should tell the people what was being brought in those suitcases that the Kolkata police had to “terrorise” customs officials to prevent them from checking them, he said. He also alleged the police threatened the customs officials.
Abhishek, who is a Lok Sabha member, has suggested that his wife was chosen by customs officials because of her profile and rejected claims of BJP leaders that she was carrying anything in violation of laws.
The BJP has used the issue to corner the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta, who is affiliated to the BJP, asked why the Kolkata Police entered an area which falls under the jurisdiction of the customs department.
Mamata Banerjee is deliberately trying to provoke a constitutional crisis, he said. If Abhishek Banerjee’s wife had nothing to hide, then why she and the woman accompanying her resisted their luggage being checked by the customs department, he asked. The TMC should answer these questions, he said.