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Kolkata: In conversations across West Bengal—at roadside teashops, public transport and in the picnics in chilly afternoons—the topic doing the rounds is just one: What made Mamata Banerjee so nervous and desperate that she had to gate-crash Enforcement Directorate raids and snatch documents, a cell phone, and a laptop? Also, what was so secret and crucial that the Trinamool Congress had to hold protests not only in West Bengal but also in New Delhi where the police dragged away MPs like Mahua Moitra, Satabdi Roy and Derek O’Brien protesting outside the offices of Union Home Minister Amit Shah?
While Mamata Banerjee and her party faithful keep on insisting that the raid was done at the behest of the Home Minister to get details about the Trinamool’s strategies, its data, and list of selected candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections, the truth lies in the role that I-PAC has come to play in Bengal. Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), the political consultancy firm founded by Prashant Kishor, has become a lightning rod in the Trinamool Congress (TMC), wielding significant influence over its strategies and internal workings since engaging post the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Initially hired by Abhishek Banerjee to professionalize operations, I-PAC manages data-driven campaigns, booth-level mapping, and election planning for TMC and the West Bengal government. However, its deep involvement has sparked accusations of overriding veteran leaders, fuelling factional rifts and claims of undue control.
Controversies erupted during 2022 municipal polls, where local TMC leaders protested candidate lists, blaming I-PAC for ignoring their recommendations and imposing outsiders. Protests rocked TMC camps as cadres accused the firm of finalizing lists without endorsement, sidelining ground-level input. I-PAC denied involvement, but many party leaders alleged that it meddled in party and government functions. Similar friction arose over social media, with TMC minister Chandrima Bhattacharya claiming I-PAC altered her Twitter banner to push “one person, one post” without consent. TMC veteran Madan Mitra, a vocal critic, slammed I-PAC in February 2025 for tarnishing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s image. “Mamata Banerjee never had any scandal attached to her name. However, the stain on her reputation now is due to the actions of the ‘Pacwalas’ (I-PAC members),” Mitra said. He alleged I-PAC facilitated a “culture of buying posts,”, with district I-PAC representatives demanding sums like Rs 10 lakh, empowering opportunists and weakening the organisation. Mitra later apologised in a letter to I-PAC, acknowledging overstep, but the remarks highlighted old guard resentment towards the firm’s micromanagement, including personal behaviour.
Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury portrayed I-PAC as TMC’s shadowy overlord. He alleged to Read: “I-PAC decides the names of leaders in the block and starts for auction. The money received against the auctioning of such posts is given to Khokababu (Abhishek Banerjee). He is now running this I-PAC. He is looting Bengal through this I-PAC.” He accused I-PAC of engineering communal riots, capturing booths through conspiracies, collecting funds routed to TMC with a cut for itself, and sabotaging elections. “In the last Lok Sabha elections, the organisation brought a famous cricketer from Gujarat and by encashing his religious identity it defeated me. At the advice of I-PAC, Didi’s party MLA Humayun Kabir engineered riots, and after the riots, a conspiracy was hatched to scare Hindus and push their votes towards the BJP only to ensure my defeat.”
Allegations extend to financial impropriety, with Enforcement Directorate probes claiming Rs 20 crore in coal scam proceeds reached I-PAC via hawala for poll activities, including in Goa. TMC insiders anonymously allege I-PAC’s involvement in government functions and vote manipulation during Special Intensive Revision exercises. On Friday, defending her intervention in Thursday’s ED raids on I-PAC and its director Prateek Jain, Mamata Banerjee accused Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh of receiving money from dubious sources through West Bengal’s Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and BJP state secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay. BJP state secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay, who, as a journalist had broken the story of the TMC role in the coal smuggling racket, told Read: “Mamata Banerjee is making these allegations to deflect attention from the coal smuggling racket that has directly benefited her family and her party. I challenge her to give proof. Or else I shall give proof of her and her relatives’ involvement in the racket.” Displaying copies of documents related to the Trinamool’s role in the coal smuggling scam, he challenged Mamata Banerjee to prove her allegations against the BJP.
Business insiders in Kolkata say that I-PAC’s Prateek Jain is actively involved in the award of government contracts and tenders. “Prateek Jain is Abhishek Banerjee’s man and is keeping tabs on Mamata Banerjee’s party and government. For businessmen, he is the go-to man for anything that needs to be done through the government. Obviously, such assignments result in documents. Mamata was out to save these documents from falling into the hands of the ED,” alleged an industrialist known to be close to the ruling dispensation.
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