Rahul being harassed due to BJPs personal vendetta, aim is to distract people: Cong
As the ED questioned Rahul Gandhi for the fifth day in the National Herald case, the Congress on Tuesday alleged that the BJP-led government was harassing him with the “charade” due to personal vendetta and its aim was to distract the country from the core issues of inflation, unemployment and Agnipath scheme.
Decrying the Enforcement Directorate action as “illegal and unconstitutional”, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi alleged that the BJP is “high on its rage and that is why it has made the ED its cage”.
The opposition party alleged the Modi government, in the face of public anger over the new military recruitment scheme, is pursuing its time-tested technique of distraction, digression and deceit.
“Rahul Gandhi has been called again and again to distract the nations attention, to keep all cameras focused on this charade at the ED office and to make sure that the issues, which deserve attention, be it Agnipath, be it price rise, be it unemployment remains camouflaged and hidden,” Singhvi told reporters.
The Congress leader said Rahul Gandhi has been a consistent unwavering voice against the BJP and the Modi government, and therefore “the harassment of Rahul Gandhi is an act of utter revenge, retribution, retaliation, reprisal and recrimination.” “There is nothing constitutional or legal about this process. Everything is personal, not constitutional; personal grudge, personal grievance, and personal vendetta,” Singhvi alleged.
He alleged that it has become clear that the Modi government has failed at every single aspect of governance and is now desperate to divert the attention from its “half-baked attempts at policy-making”, the latest being the Agnipath Scheme.
He also claimed that the scheme has been launched without consultation or application of mind and is yet another link in the chain of “poorly thought out announcements”, which have led to huge protests and disputes across the country.
Singhvi claimed that the governments standard answer to such protests has been that they are conspiracies created by the opposition and not spontaneous protests.
“The Modi government is dealing with the issue through its time-tested technique of distraction, digression and deceit and one of them is to keep hounding Rahul Gandhi,” he said, noting that Gandhi has been questioned for 40 hours in the last four days.
Singhvi asked what is this “Himalayan bundle” of questions that never end and claimed that the Supreme Court established in 1955 that a shareholder of a company does not own the assets of that company.
“So, Young India does not own the assets of AJL. It may be a majority shareholder. How many times did you ask this question; over 55 hours, five days!” he said, adding that Young India is a Section 25 company and there is no question of any benefit accruing to the shareholders.
He also asked why priority is being given to this case when other ED cases are languishing.
“Why has this government not been able to make out any credible case after seven years,” he said.
Singhvi also asked the ED to remember that they are officers of the Constitution.
“Unfortunately, the BJP and the government is high on its rage, which is why it has made ED under its cage… and that is the real tragedy of this entire episode,” he said.
Gandhi was questioned for the fifth day in the case of money laundering connected to the National Herald newspaper.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)
