July 17, 2026

Misuse Of Both Central And State Agencies Must Stop By Making Them Independent

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-03-30 08:24:54

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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Mamata Banerjee has written to opposition leaders and chief ministers of opposition-ruled states, calling for a conclave to highlight the Centre's (read BJPs) "misuse of central agencies to target opposition-governed states". It needs to be recalled that apart from senior leaders of the TMC, leaders of many opposition parties are facing cases lodged by various central agencies and are regularly questioned, sometimes even called to Delhi for questioning, as in the case of TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee who was summoned to Delhi for questioning for his alleged role in the coal-mining scam. The opposition has called it witch hunting and political vendetta on part of the BJP.

Banerjee's call is timely as the Centre is increasingly using central agencies to target not only opposition leaders but also journalists, social activists and others who are against the government. It is blatant misuse of these agencies and amounts to pure harassment as most of these cases drag on for years without any conviction. The negligible rate of conviction in these targeted cases proves that they are started just for harassing the person or persons. It also shows these agencies in very poor light for not having the expertise to build a water tight case in such high profile cases, even when they have the entire government machinery at their disposal.

But nothing will be solved by just highlighting how the Centre is using these agencies to target dissidents and opposition leaders. States also use the state police and other state agencies to target opposition leaders in the state. The real solution lies in reforming the police force to reduce political interference and making central agencies truly independent. The Supreme Court had called CBI a "caged parrot". Other central and state agencies are also totally under the ruling dispensations. As long as the political class just highlights the misuse when it is against them and keeps mum about freeing these agencies - both central and state - from political interference, nothing will happen and just the targeted persons will keep changing as per the change in governments. 

picture courtesy: mpsctricks.in