We don't need a red diary to tell us how rotten it is.

Few days back officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) attempted to question the Chief of Police in Kolkata Rajeev Kumar in relation to a ponzi scheme, known as the Saradha scam. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rushed to the house of the Police Commissioner and held a meeting in front of it to prevent the CBI from talking to Kumar, claiming that it was an attempt by the Central government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to interfere in affairs of the state. The CBI is controlled by the Center while police forces are governed by respective states. When the CBI team reached Kumar's house they were arrested by Kolkata Police and taken to a local police station. "Several hundred city police personnel laid siege to two central government buildings which house CBI's offices and the joint director's residence as well as well as the Enforcement Directorate -- prompting senior bureau officers to approach Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi." Governors are appointed by the Center. Why is Mamata Banerjee so eager to protect Kumar from questioning? Kumar was head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that investigated the Saradha scam and is suspected of suppressing crucial evidence to protect politicians of Trinamool Congress (TMC), which is Banerjee's party. "We suspect there was a 'political nexus' involved in it and the then SIT probing the case knew about it. This could be the reason why SIT tampered with some of the evidence and documents while handing over it to us," said a CBI source. The main accused in the scam Sudipto Sen had a red diary in which he noted down the names of politicians in his pay. The SIT recovered the diary but it has since gone missing. But, it is not a simple case of Kolkata Police protecting corrupt TMC politicians. The former CBI Director Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana disagreed about the investigation. "The CBI and ED have always acted as agencies above law," said a senior official of Kolkata Police. Both Verma and Asthana have been moved out of the CBI. Perhaps, the main reason for this distasteful mess is that India will hold general elections in a couple of months and Modi's BJP sees an opportunity in Bengal which is worrying Banerjee. Ever since left wing parties came to power in Bengal in 1969, the economy has collapsed and jobs have become scarce. Violence is the only way to make money and gain some respect. Gangs of thugs, known as 'syndicates', openly resort to extortion and protection rackets, protected by politicians, who share in the spoils. Bengal still follows the 1973 Panchayat Act which allows Panchayats to control all government social schemes in rural areas. Which means help is provided only to those who support the party, giving enormous power to local politicians. "Good people don't win elections," said a BJP block president. Modi and Banerjee are trying to prove him right.