Shortly after they were granted bail, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at the BJP-led NDA Government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sonia said the current Government is targeting the Opposition and making full use of the State agency to do so while Rahul said Modi levels false allegations and thinks that the Opposition will bow down. “I and Congress will not do so,” he asserted.
Earlier, the Congress charged the Government with resorting to unprecedented level of vendetta politics and dubbed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy as Modi’s mask.
It said Z-category cover and allotment of a Government bungalow to Swamy was an award for dragging the Congress leadership to the court. “Before elections, the BJP had given a call for Congress-free India, now they are trying to have an Opposition-free India,” the Congress alleged.
Sonia and Rahul, who came straight to the AICC office from the Patiala House courts, said they will continue to fight and “not bow down”.
“Today we had appeared before the court with a clean conscience. We did what any law-abiding citizen should do. The laws of the nation apply to everyone without any discrimination. I have no doubt that the truth will come out,” said Sonia at the jam-packed AICC headquarters amidst heavy sloganeering.
Coming down heavily on the Modi Government, the Congress president said, “The present Government is deliberately targeting the Opposition and making full use of the State agencies to do so. Nobody is going to be scared from it. We will continue our fight.”
Sonia was flanked by all the top leaders — including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Referring to the case filed by Swamy, Sonia said that she was totally aware of the intention of the people behind the case. “These people have been trying for long to target us. They will not succeed,” she asserted.
Making a direct attack on the Prime Minister, Rahul said, “Modiji levels false allegations and thinks that the Opposition will bow down, I and Congress party will not succumb.”
Party sources said that they may approach the Supreme Court seeking expunction of some adverse remarks made by Delhi High Court Justice Sunil Gaur and that there are no plans to seek stay of the proceedings in the lower court. The High Court had made scathing observations on the “questionable conduct” of the Gandhis regarding how they took control of the publication.
Rahul declared that the Congress would fight for the poor and the oppressed and would work in the Opposition without budging an inch. Modiji wants a Congress-mukt bharat and that such a situation would never arise, he added.
Talking to media, Singh said that the Congress is united in support of Sonia and Rahul. “We will fight. We will give a determined fight. The Congress was a party that stood for certain values and it will not compromise on them,” said the former PM.
leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “He (Swamy) has been placed under Z-category and allotted a Government bungalow. He is neither a member of the Parliament nor from a border State. He is not facing any threat from any terrorist organisation....The bungalow was given as an award for dragging the Congress leadership to court,” said Azad.
Sonia’s son-in-law Robert Vadra too expressed confidence that truth will prevail in the National Herald case and such “desperate malicious attempts of defamation” will not be believed. “My full support to my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Politics of vendetta and desperate malicious attempts of defamation will not be believed. Truth shall prevail,” Vadra said in his Facebook post.