BOLPUR: A day after TMC's Anubrata Mondal was arrested by the CBI in connection with a cattle smuggling case, his two-storey home in Bolpur town wore a desolate look on Friday, with just a stray cow seen loitering nearby, oblivious of the frenetic developments over the last few days.
On the roof of the blue-coloured building, a handful of people were seen dismantling a tent which, locals said, had been set up for a yagna on the occasion on Independence Day.
The entrance door and the numerous ornate windows lay shut, with an eerie silence pervading the road adjoining his home in Nichupatti locality.
"At any given day, had Kestoda (Mondal's nick name) been around, you would have seen scores of vehicles crammed on both sides of this lane, and people coming in and out of his ground floor office. We had never thought he would be picked up this way. Now even his loyalists are nowhere to be seen," one of his neighbours said.
The scene outside Mondal's house was in stark contrast to what it was the day before when a crowd has gathered as central security force personnel barricaded the house before CBI whisked him away following a search conducted at the residence.
Across the lane, in tea stalls people in hushed tones discussed about the dramatic turn of events on Thursday morning and how it could impact the political equations in the town, where proverbially "not a leaf falls without his permission".
"Kestoda used to be the last word, not just in Bolpur, but the entire Birbhum. He knows the whereabouts of every single trader, hawker, and permanent resident of Bolpur. It is shocking to see how fate changes, that too in a matter of hours," a garment store owner near the residence said.
Mondal was arrested from his residence in Bolpur in Birbhum after an hour-long interrogation and was remanded in CBI custody till August 20.
The ruling TMC, during the day, took out a rally at Bhagabanpur area in Paschim Medinipur district in protest against the "vendetta politics" allegedly being pursued by the BJP-led central government by "using probe agencies".
Around 500 rallyists, many of them women, shouted slogans against the Narendra Modi government and displayed placards which sought to know why similar action was not being initiated against "corrupt BJP leaders".
The saffron party organised a counter rally in Barjora area of Bankura district, led by Bishnupur MP Soumitra Khan, where hundreds of activists danced to the accompaniment of drums to celebrate Mondal's arrest.
"Finally Anubrata Mondal, who was known for his terror and intimidation tactics, got what he deserved. We thank the CBI. More such arrests of TMC heavyweights will follow soon," Khan said.
Mondal, whose political career had been marked by controversies and off-the-cuff remarks, skipped his scheduled appearance before the central probe agency twice earlier in the week, citing ill health as reason.
Rallies and counter rallies over the arrest of TMC leader Anubrata Mondal in a cattle smuggling case kept West Bengal's political cauldron on the boil on Friday with the state's ruling party questioning the impartiality of the probe agency and the opposition camps celebrating the triumph of "good over evil".
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday morning arrested Mondal from his residence in Bolpur area of Birbhum district, for allegedly not cooperating in its probe into the cattle smuggling case.
He was later remanded in 10-day custody of the central agency by a special CBI court.
The TMC took out protest rallies in various parts of the state on Friday, accusing the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) of acting as "frontal organisations" of the BJP at the Centre.
Carrying posters and placards, TMC's student and youth wing members rallied in various parts of the state, demanding unbiased probe by the ED and the CBI.
"We have serious doubts about the way central agencies function. We have seen that they maintain silence when it comes to taking action against BJP leaders facing allegations of corruption," Trinamool Congress Chatra Parishad (TMCP) state president Trinankur Bhattacharjee said.
He claimed that the central agencies go slow when it came to graft cases against BJP leaders.
"What about similar cases against BJP leaders, or those who have joined the saffron camp to escape the clutches of investigating agencies," he sought to know.
The protest rallies were taken out in several districts of the state, including Mondal's hometown in Birbhum, as well as East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Purulia, Siliguri, Bankura and Kolkata.
Meanwhile, the opposition BJP, the CPI(M) and Congress organised counter rallies in various parts of the state, rejoicing the arrest, and stating that the day was not far when the entire top brass of the ruling TMC would be behind bars on corruption charges.
"The arrest of Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal are just the beginning," BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said, while addressing a rally.
Senior TMC leader and minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested on July 23 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a school recruitment scam.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the arrest of TMC strongman Mondal symbolises the victory of "good over evil".