ED raid the Congress run newspaper– the National Herald with regards to the ongoing investigation into the money laundering case. The Congress party claims the actions of the ED to be carried out due to political vendetta of the BJP.
On Tuesday, 2nd of August, the Enforcement Directorate carried out multiple raids and different locations in Delhi, including the National Herald offices. This was in connection with the ongoing money laundering case.
The Enforcement Directorate is said to have raided at least 12 different locations. Most of them are linked to the Associated Journals Limited– which includes the main offices of National Herald newspaper run by AJL, on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. ED carried out a thorough search at all these locations. A few anonymous sources told reporters that some property would likely be attached.
Why did ED raid the National Herald?
Moreover, according to officials, the raids were authorised and were being carried out under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act or the PMLA. It is for the sole reason to gather any additional evidence pertaining to the trail of funds.
The ED had questioned the well known Congress leader Sonia Gandhi as well as her son Rahul Gandhi– who is also the party leader. Both, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are on the Board of Directors of Young Indian Ltd. The company is a charitable foundation which was tasked with the rehabilitation of the debt of Associated Journals Ltd.
Sonia Gandhi was questioned for three whole days. This set off a series of protests in the parliament. The members of the Congress party as well as its leaders have not taken kindly to the raid. Their dissent is expressed through demonstrations all over the country.
Additionally, Rahul Gandhi too was questioned related to the newspaper. It was founded and started running in 1938 by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. The investigation is with regards to certain irregularities in Young Indian Ltd which owns the National Herald. The party stated earlier that AJL was faced with huge debts. The Congress, from the year 2002 to 2011, gave Rs. 90 crore to the National Herald. They did this to pay all the salaries of journalists and staff who worked for the newspaper.
Subramanian Swamy, a BJP MP, made the accusation Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of the Congress party conspired to cheat and launder funds. He claimed that Young Indian Ltd. paid only Rs. 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover the Rs. 90 crore that Associated Journals Ltd. was indebted to.
Congress expresses their dissent towards the raid.
The Congress Party justify their dissent by claiming that the opposing party– i.e the BJP led government is misusing their power and central agencies. Furthermore, they allege that the Enforcement Directorate is harassing the members of the Congress all because they are the opposing party. Several MLAs and Members of Parliament were even detained when they carried out these protests.
The Congress even criticised the raids carried out on Tuesday. As per the members, the raids were termed as “vendetta politics”. Moreover, they also said that the action taken by the BJP was a long drawn attack that continues to take place as they are the country’s major opposing party.
Consequently, the Congress party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate made some statements to the media that were along similar lines. She said that it was the first time in independent India that the government was acting on “political hatred and revenge”. She called the BJP’s moves the advent of rock bottom for Indian politics stating that the BJP set “petty scores” to “intimidate India’s opposition”.
Additionally, Shrinate stated that the Congress would not allow the government to “distract people” from ongoing real issues like unemployment and price rise. Finally, she said that the party will continue to keep fighting inside and outside the party.
