TMC seniors victims of political vendetta: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee made a distinction between the legal battle over her colleagues’ bail plea in the Narada case and the political battle with the BJP. She said she hoped “justice would be just” but added that what was happening outside the court was “deliberate political vendetta”.
“The matter is sub judice and I will not comment on anything happening in court,” Banerjee said on Thursday. “But whatever has been done is illegal beyond all limits (Ei anyay-r kono seema pariseema nei). This is deliberate political vendetta,” she added. “I will say outside the court as a political person,” she said.
Banerjee then mentioned how KMC board of administrators chairperson and state transport minister Firhad Hakim was one of the first volunteers for the Covaxin trial in Kolkata. “Bobby (Firhad) and Subrata da (state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee) could not work for the last three-four days. Bobby has been doing a lot of work. And their entire team works on the streets. This person risked his life to volunteer for the vaccine trial. He and Subrata da have been in jail for several days. But this will get a fitting reply. The voice of justice, I hope, will be just,” the Bengal CM said, adding she would have to see how Hakim’s custody could impact Covid work: “I will have to check whether Covid bodies are piling up.”
Banerjee went to Hakim’s Chetla residence on her way back home from Nabanna around 5.30 p.m. and stayed there, speaking with his daughters, Sabah and Priyadarshini. She also spoke to his wife, Ismat Hakim, over phone before leaving.
A close family aide, who was there at the Hakims’ home when Banerjee went there, said the CM assured his daughters that it was her responsibility to get “Bobby out of jail”. “She asked both Sabah and Priyadarshini and the rest of the family to not neglect their diet and health in the middle of Covid. She also told the family not to lose hope and iterated that this was a political fight,” the aide added.
“#martinlutherking reminded the world that ‘the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice’,” Sabah had tweeted earlier on Thursday. “We have faith in the judiciary and are hopeful that justice shall prevail for @FirhadHakim #bobbyhakim #bengalstandswithbobby,” she added.
Banerjee also called the panchayat minister’s wife, Chhandabani Mukherjee, on Thursday evening. She said “Subrata da was a victim of political vendetta” and assured the family of “complete assistance”.