Saradha scam: Why Mamata Banerjee can't get off the hook by raking in names of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly

Trinamool Congress chief and chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, has finally spoken on the Saradha scam after her name was brought up in the scandal, following news of a deal between Saradha and IRCTC when she was the Union railways minister. Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh, who had been suspended by the party and is currently in judicial custody for interrogation, had also remarked that all the top leaders of TMC need to be interrogated jointly for the truth to come out.

Mamata Banerjee has responded that neither she nor her party depended on Saradha funds for survival. She retorted that Ghosh is an accused lodged in jail and that whatever he said was merely an attempt to save himself.

But Mamata Banerjee did not stop at that. She dragged in the names of players like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in the context of the Sahara case. She said, "The Sahara group sponsored the Sahara Cup, along with the cricket and football teams. Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar played (for those teams). Can Sourav, Sachin, Gavaskar be blamed?"

Dear Didi, here are three reasons why the Saradha and Sahara cases are not comparable, and your justification doesn't hold water.

1. Contract with IRCTC: If we look at just the contract between Saradha and IRCTC, in the context of which Banerjee's name has been directly dragged into the scandal, the contract has not been finalised on the reputation and payment capabilities of Saradha. Sahara group was already an established name and formidable company when it began sponsoring the team in 2010. It even won the Indian cricket team sponsorship based on competitive bids and dealt directly with BCCI and not with the players who played for the Indian team.

Saradha's tourism arm, on the other hand, was established in 2007, and over the next two years they posted losses of Rs 61 lakh. However, they bagged the IRCTC agency contract in 2010. Being a loss-making company, how could they bag the agency rights without any security deposits or bank guarantees which is otherwise required to be an agent of IRCTC? There are also questions about how a newly-founded company got the contract, pipping other eminent brands.

Saradha Tourism had begun with a share capital of Rs 1 lakh, and the shareholders were Sudipto Sen, his wife Priyanka and son Subhojit. The CBI says that though there is no rule on how big a company has to be to get the Railways contract, a company with share capital of Rs 1 lakh, and running on losses would certainly not fit the bill.
The CBI therefore suspects that the IRCTC did not bag the contract depending on the reputation it had (which was the case with Sahara) but rather used the name of IRCTC to gain reputation and collect more funds. Therefore, how they got such a contract when Banerjee was the minister, is a question she is still answerable for.

2. Unaccounted funds: Sahara sponsored the Indian cricket team, but there is no allegation on any of the players receiving unaccounted funds from the Sahara group for being in the team or any other favour. Yes, it is perhaps wrong to blame Mithun Chakraborty or Shatapdi Ray just for being the ambassadors, because all ambassadors are not aware of the wrong doing of a company. 

However, the CBI in the last few months, have called in for questioning five party MPs, one state minister and several other leaders. Ex-DGP and now TMC MP Rajat Majumdar has been arrested by the CBI naming him a "conspirator" in the case. Rajya Sabha MP and editor of a Bengali newspaper Sangbad Pratidin, Srinjoy Bose was also questioned by the CBI. Indian Express reported that a Rs 20-crore deal between Bose's media house and Saradha group is under probe.

Mamata Banerjee's paintings allegedly earned Rs 2.53 crore in the 2012-13 fiscal, and Narendra Modi had alleged that Sudipto Sen had bought a painting for Rs 1.8 crore. Sen told the Shyamal Sen commission that he never brought such a painting but the matter is under investigation.

It would unfair to declare TMC or Mamata Banerjee as criminals when the case is still under investigation. But multiple names of the same party who were seen as prominent faces of the Saradha group, are now unable to explain many of their transactions with the group. This is surely not the case between Sahara and the players of the Indian team. Surely no one is blaming TMC members for just being seen on some stages with Sudipto Sen or merely shooting ads for them. The allegations are far more serious.

3. Moral responsibility: Has Mamata Banerjee heard these words? Surely she has. In the context of the Tapasi Malik murder case in 2008 when the agitation against the Tatas was on in Singur, Banerjee had asked for the resignation of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. She had demanded the resignation of the then chief minister for having lost "credibility as an administrator" and the "right to continue in the chair."

Similarly, with multiple names from TMC including her own name being linked to the scam, the public demands an answer if not her resignation. Her answer regarding the selling of her paintings was that she is not accountable for anyone who bought her paintings or who she sold it to. Does Didi realise that these evasive answers make her look more meek rather than tilt the bar of credibility in her favour?