Defamation charge: Shah summoned

A special court designated for MLAs and MPs has summoned Union Home Minister Amit Shah to appear before it at 10 am on February 22 regarding the defamation case filed by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee. The judge of the special court at Bidhannagar has asked Shah to either appear physically or through a pleader to answer the case registered against him under IPC 500.

At a public rally at Kolkata’s Mayo Road in August 2018, the then BJP national president Amit Shah was heard stating that the BJP-led central government had released money for the people of West Bengal and that the Mamata Banerjeeled Trinamool Congress government didn’t distribute the money to the poor.

“Narada, Sharda, Rose Valley, Syndicate's corruption, nephew's corruption, a series of corruption has been done by Mamataji,” Shah was heard saying at Mayo Road on August 11, 2018.

Following this, a defamation case was filed on August 28, 2018, by Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the nephew of CM Mamata Banerjee. Incidentally, not just Shah but all the leaders of the saffron camp had time-and-again stated about Abhishek’s alleged involvement with ponzi scams in West Bengal.

Reacting to the move, BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said, “The ruling Trinamool Congress is aware that they are losing grounds in the state for which they moved the court. We will tackle it legally.”