Desk Correspondent , Delhi - The political standoff between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Union Government reached a breaking point on Friday as senior leader Mahua Moitra and several other TMC MPs were detained by the Delhi Police. The detention occurred during a defiant protest outside Union Home Minister Amit Shah's office at North Block, where the lawmakers had gathered to demand an end to what they call "targeted harassment" by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Visuals from the scene showed a chaotic scuffle as security personnel forcibly removed Moitra and her colleagues from the high-security zone and bundled them into police vans.

The protest was triggered by the recent ED raids on the party’s poll strategist, which the TMC claims were designed to "steal" sensitive campaign documents and data ahead of the Bengal elections. Moitra, who has been a vocal critic of the central agencies, was seen sitting on the road and resisting detention, asserting that the party would not be "cowed down by bulldozers or central agencies." Following her detention, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the police action, labeling it a "black day for democracy" and accusing the BJP-led center of using force because it "cannot fight the TMC politically."

The Delhi Police stated that the detentions were necessary as the area is under Section 144, which prohibits large gatherings, and the MPs did not have permission to protest at the sensitive site. While the lawmakers were taken to a local police station, the incident has sparked spontaneous protests across West Bengal, with TMC workers blocking roads and burning effigies in Kolkata. This escalation signals a deepening rift between the state and the center, as the TMC prepares to turn the "agency overreach" issue into a primary electoral plank, while the BJP maintains that the law is simply taking its course in corruption probes.