The Narendra Modi government is “hounding” Rahul Gandhi through the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for speaking up against the failures of the government, the Congress alleged on Tuesday as Mr. Gandhi was questioned for the fifth day by the agency in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper.
Addressing a press conference, the party’s spokesperson and senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi alleged that the questioning of Mr. Gandhi for more than 55 hours and over five days was because of “personal vendetta” and was “aimed at distracting the country” from the core issues of inflation, unemployment, and the Agnipath scheme.
Using strong words, Mr. Singhvi said the ED’s action was “illegal and unconstitutional”, and added, “the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is high on its rage and that is why it has made the ED its cage”.
Mr. Gandhi, whose questioning on Monday went on until half past midnight, arrived at the ED’s office at around 11.15 a.m. on Tuesday morning and left the agency’s headquarters around 8 p.m., after going through the questioning without taking any lunch break.
Earlier in the day, senior party leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot; his Chhattisgarh counterpart, Bhupesh Baghel; Congress general secretary (organisation) K. C. Venugopal; and Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, sat on a dharna or a sit-in protest at the party’s headquarters
Subsequently, when the leaders announced that they wanted to march to Jantar Mantar, the police prevented them for lack of permission.
Several Congress workers and MPs were detained, including Benny Benhanan, Anto Anthony, Deepak Baij, Saptagiri Ulaka, Gaurav Gogoi, Ranjeet Ranjan, Amee Yajnik, Santhokh Singh, K Suresh, Chella Kumar, Kuldeep Rai Sharma and Mohd Zawaid, besides former Minister Bhakta Charan Das, Chhattisgarh Minister Amarjeet Bhagat, and ex-MP Kamal Kishore Commando.
Mr. Baghel then sat on the road outside the Congress office along with his supporters. And on a day when the Congress-supported Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra faced a major political crisis, the Chhattisgarh CM accused the Centre of trying to destabilise his government.
“Rahul-ji is supporting the people of the country, so he is being harassed. Those who are supporting Rahul-ji are also being harassed. The CBI was sent to Ashok Gehlot’s brother in Rajasthan, now information about phone tapping in Chhattisgarh is also coming to the fore. But we will not be scared,” Mr. Baghel said.
Mr. Gehlot alleged that BJP leaders were masquerading as believers of democracy but in reality were “fascists”.
“The troubling and the harassment of Rahul Gandhi is an outcome of BJP’s fight and fuss with him personally. It is an outcome of the vendetta personally...Why all this after seven years? Why all this for 5 days and 55 hours after seven years?” Mr. Singhvi asked.
Hundreds of Youth Congress workers, led by its chief B. V. Srinivas, also shouted slogans against the Prime Minister wearing a Rahul Gandhi face mask.
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