FIFA World Cup 2022: The Bengal Connection

Published by
Debjani Bhattacharaya

The ongoing discourse of investigation of the financial crimes in West Bengal is expected to proceed far ahead before culminating into something decisive while the people of West Bengal are breathlessly awaiting a moment of relief from the suffocating clutch of scams and crimes. However, it is time to draw the attention of people to certain news related to West Bengal’s participation in the coming session of the FIFA  World Cup in Qatar.

Reportedly, West Bengal is supplying certain goods like goat meat and power transformers to Qatar, which would be utilised during the ongoing football extravaganza. However, the reported fact that countries like Qatar have been financing West Bengal’s mosques for purposes which are far from being transparent can’t be ignored. Such funds from West Asian countries get utilised for the propagation of religion within West Bengal and India. Keeping in mind all these facts and West Bengal’s antecedents of money laundering and financial crimes, the export of goat meat & electric transformers from West Bengal to Qatar may be another plan of money laundering. Such a plan, if any, needs to be aborted.

As per the media report, power transformers would be supplied by a private limited company of Maheshtala (under Diamondharbour Parliamentary Constituency) named BMC Electroplast, which is precisely located in Bakhrahat Road, Hanspukur of South 24 Parganas. It will be excellent news for West Bengal and India if such a company truly supplies power transformers to the Football World Cup. However, from the antecedents of West Bengal, it is no folly to apprehend such news to be a mere window dressing of something suspicious.

Moreover, Indian Express, too, in order to substantiate their news, has referred to the tweet of a mere TMC party man informing BMC Electroplast to have garnered such an order. Things appear suspicious mainly because of the antecedents of religious aggressiveness of Qatar & West Bengal’s record of being a State of terror support and money laundering.

Similarly, goat meat export too may be apprehended on the same ground. Though meat is reportedly being exported by approval from APEDA & the supplying organisation, Haringhata Meat is a GoWB organisation, and such things are not beyond doubt as West Bengal Government is integrally involved in planning & implementing all scams of West Bengal.

Keeping in mind the massive negative remarks by CAG in West Bengal’s Statutory Audit Report of 2022, it doesn’t appear paranoid to suspect that even a GoWB organisation may remain involved in money laundering. To be wise, Bengal’s meat export also needs to be under scanner for all practical purposes to track how much meat and at what price would finally be exported to Qatar and for what cause in reality. Moreover, the news published by West Bengal media about TMC MLA Madan Mitra’s plan to visit Qatar during the Football World Cup adds some more fuel to such speculations and apprehensions. Union Ministries need to look into such matters with due importance so that plans of financial scams, if there be any, may be aborted in due time.

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