The Congress on Saturday jumped into the defence of its leader Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra whose associates were raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) saying that people in power, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is scared "thinking that the exit polls are right" and worried about defeat in assembly elections.
A battery of top Congress leaders, including Kapil Sibal, Ahmed Patel and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, stepped out to attack the Government over the searches by the Enforcement Directorate against three persons linked to Robert Vadra on Friday.
"The people in power especially PM is thinking that the exit polls are right and are scared. People in opposition are being targeted by sending IT, ED. I want to ask Modi rather blame him why such things are happening in his rule," Sibal questioned at a press conference in the evening after Singhvi had already lashed out at the Modi Government earlier in the day claiming that the raids were a reflection of "the highest degree of panic" of the ruling dispensation, "awaiting" poll defeats in the assembly polls.
Sibal further scaled up the degree of attack saying the ED barged into the offices of Vadra associates without any warrant. "There was no FIR, ECIR against Vadra and people of ED reached his offices without any warrant. They don't say their names and when asked to wait by the people in the office to get keys to the office, they broke into the office," Sibal said.
The senior Congress leader, who is also a top lawyer, wondered at what he called "hooliganism" by the law enforcement agencies and sought to know as to who would rein in them if they were to be backed by the Government itself.
"What kind of Government is it? If law enforcement agencies start hooliganism then who will question them? If they're supported by the PM, then who'll question it? Where is the law and order in the country," he sought to argue while defending Vadra.
Earlier, Singhvi, who also addressed a press conference here at the party headquarters, alleged that there was never such a "terror raj" in the "constitutional rule" of India.
"We fought the British Raj and the BJP would do well to know that the day of judgement will come for it," he said adding "They are afraid of the Congress and its values, so they are threatening people and using high-handed tactics against those who are relatives of our leaders or are associated with them".
"This is called character assassination by innuendos and insinuations. When they do not have facts, this is what they will do," he said.
The Congress spokesman claimed that the BJP was in a "state of panic of the highest degree", sensing rejection from the people in the just-concluded Assembly polls in five States.
"The word 'panic' would be an understatement and all these raids and searches against various people are nothing but a ploy to divert the attention of the people from the real issues and the BJP's failures," he said.
The results of the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram Assembly polls will be announced on December 11, on a day when the one-month-long winter session of the Parliament would also commence. The poll-results are expected to set the tone for not only the Parliament session , the last of the 16th Lok Sabha, but also that of the 2019-General Elections, only few months away. Barring Rajasthan where exit-polls have uniformly given Congress an edge over the BJP, opinions are dived on Madhaya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram.
The ED had carried out searches against the three persons in connection with its probe into alleged "commissions received by some suspects in defence deals" and illegal assets stashed abroad, officials had said Friday.
Singhvi claimed that the searches were carried out in violation of laws, adding, "We have nothing against any particular person, but we are talking about principles.... No Enforcement Case Information
Report (ECIR) of the FIR has been shared, no search warrant issued, no access to lawyers, and detained persons were also physically roughed up."
"All of this is happening because the BJP feels the certainty of the rejection by the people and is desperate to divert people's attention from the real issues," he said.