Explained: This article explains the political background, key decisions, and possible outcomes related to Explained : TMC MPs protest outside Amit Shah’s office in Delhi, detained for defying “dirty politics” and Its Impact and why it matters right now.
New Delhi: In a bold display of political defiance, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs staged a protest outside the office of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Friday, holding placards that read: “Bengal rejects Modi-Shah’s dirty politics.” During the protest, several MPs were detained by the Delhi police.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the protest sought to spotlight what the TMC describes as the BJP-led Indian government’s misuse of central agencies to harass opposition parties ahead of crucial elections.
Leading the protest were prominent TMC MPs, including Derek O’Brien, Mahua Moitra, Satabdi Roy, Bapi Haldar, Saket Gokhale, Pratima Mondal, Kirti Azad, and Dr Sharmila Sarkar. The MPs raised slogans against Amit Shah and demonstrated against what they called a campaign of “dirty politics” orchestrated from New Delhi.
During the protest, the Delhi police detained several MPs including O’Brien and Moitra, lifting them up and dragging them to the police van. The police tried to prevent them from blocking access to Amit Shah’s office. Their detention drew immediate condemnation from their fellow MPs.
“This is what is happening to MPs today,” O’Brien said after his release, his words echoing the sentiment that the democratic process itself is under siege. Moitra said, “We will defeat the BJP. The country is seeing how the Delhi Police is treating elected MPs.”
Protesting against the ED raid, TMC MP Satabdi Roy said, “They [BJP govt] send the teams of ED, CBI during the elections just to win, but they won’t win the election,” he added.
The protest comes after Thursday’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids on I-PAC, a political consultancy firm associated with the TMC, and the residence of its co-founder, Pratik Jain, in Kolkata.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee visited the sites and condemned the ED’s raids, saying that the central agencies were being misused to target the TMC. She said that the ED had seized sensitive party materials, including hard disks, candidate lists and strategic documents. She directly accused Amit Shah of misusing central agencies for political gain.
“Is it the duty of the ED, Amit Shah, to collect the party’s hard disk, candidate list? Banerjee asked. “The nasty, naughty Home Minister who cannot protect the country is taking away all my party documents,” she said while speaking to reporters. Issuing a direct challenge to the BJP and Amit Shah, Banerjee dared him to come to West Bengal and fight her democratically.
Banerjee asserted that I-PAC was not a private organisation, but an authorised team working for the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). She said that the ED had confiscated sensitive documents, including data linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The ED’s actions, targeting I-PAC and its co-founder, ignited protests across West Bengal on Thursday evening, with TMC leaders and workers rallying under the call of Banerjee to defend the party’s electoral machinery.
The incident has heightened tensions between the TMC and the BJP ahead of the 2026 assembly elections in West Bengal.