New Delhi: Hours after the ED raided the premises of the National Herald newspaper, a miffed Congress said it will protest in front of PM Modi’s house on August 5 over people’s issues like price rise and unemployment.
“This is a political vendetta to defame the Congress party. Targeting only non-BJP leaders is not good in a democracy,” the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said. “The ED raids at the premises of the National Herald and at other places are an attempt to intimidate the opposition and divert public attention from the pressing issues like price rise and unemployment.
We will not be cowed down by such raids and will continue to raise these issues. We will gherao the PM house on August 5 and will also go to the Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said. “An action like this has never taken place in the history of independent India. During the freedom struggle, the British government used to raid the NH newspaper and now this government is doing the same,” she said.
Rahul Gandhi is expected to gherao the PM house in protest along with top party leaders on August 5 when the Congress has planned a massive nationwide agitation over the price rise, GST, and unemployment issues. “We pressed for a debate in Parliament and when it did take place, the government said there is no problem like price rise. Price rise and “Gabbar Singh Tax” are direct attacks on the incomes of the common man,” Rahul Gandhi said in a Facebook post in Hindi.
“The reality is that the common man today is struggling for two square meals. The country is fighting the plague of massive unemployment and millions of households do not have a stable income. But the government is spending billions of rupees to improve the image of a “proud king,” he said. The former Congress chief assured the people that both he and his party were there to fight for the people.
“Don’t be afraid. I and my party have been fighting for you and will continue to do so. They are afraid of our unity. I assure you that we will not be afraid and will face them unitedly,” said Rahul. Last month, the Congress had protested ED summons for party chief Sonia Gandhi and former chief Rahul Gandhi in the alleged National Herald money laundering case across the county.
Also read: National Herald Case: ED raids Herald newspaper office in Delhi
The party has termed the charges as BJP’s vendetta politics as the case had been closed earlier by the courts. The ED raids on the NH building came after both Rahul and Sonia were questioned in June and July. “You questioned Rahul Gandhi for over 50 hours. You questioned Sonia Gandhi for 3 days. Either the ED is incompetent or it has become a frontal unit of the Centre to destabilize elected governments and intimidate opposition parties. They have no proof,” said Shrinate.
Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said in a Twitter post that the opposition party would not be silenced by such tactics. “The raids on Herald House, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, are a part of the continued attack against India’s principal opposition-Indian National Congress. We strongly condemn the vendetta politics against those who speak up against the Modi government. You cannot silence us,” said Ramesh.
Congress spokesperson Sayed Naseer Hussain said: “The government is not able to save the sliding economy and the Indian Rupee. They are trying to divert the political narrative in the country through such ED raids on the Congress party and on other opposition parties. It is a complete misuse of the central agencies to intimidate the opposition.”
The Congress, which had been pressing for a debate on the price rise and unemployment issues since the start of the monsoon session of Parliament on July 18, had walked out in protest in the Lok Sabha on Monday alleging that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had evaded the concerns expressed by the opposition. On Tuesday, the Congress said it expected PM Modi to give answers as he was taking all decisions in the country. “We expect the PM to come to the Rajya Sabha and give some relief to the people as he alone takes all such decisions,” said Hussain.
