Several opposition parties including the Congress on Thursday accused the Modi Government of unleashing a relentless campaign against its political opponents through "mischievous" misuse of probe agencies.
On the day when Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was questioned by the ED in the National Herald money laundering case, leaders of 13 political parties met at Parliament House and condemned the action. Leaders of the Congress, DMK, CPI-M, CPI, IUML, NC, TRS (for the first time), MDMK, NCP, VCK, Shiv Sena, RJD and RSP were present in the meeting. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi attacked the government over its alleged lack of willingness to discuss issues such as inflation and "misuse of agencies" in Parliament and asserted that "truth will prevail over dictatorship". "Discuss GST — House adjourned. Discuss inflation — House adjourned. Discuss Agneepath — House adjourned. Discuss misuse of agencies — House adjourned," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
"Today publicly, the voice of the people of the country is being suppressed. 'Truth' will prevail over this arrogance and dictatorship," the former Congress chief said. As Sonia Gandhi appeared before the ED, party MPs and Congress Working Committee (CWC) members "courted mass arrest" outside the AICC headquarters in a show of collective solidarity with their party chief. When former party chief Rahul Gandhi was questioned by the ED, the police had made elaborate arrangements.
A large number of Congress leaders were detained, taken to far-away locations and released only at midnight. Congress MPs had raised strong objections and complained to the president, vice president and Lok Sabha speaker against the police's "high-handedness".
Congress slammed the Modi government for "misusing" probe agencies against opposition leaders and staged protests against the Enforcement Directorate's questioning of Sonia Gandhi, alleging the ruling BJP is treating the opposition as its enemies. Senior Congress leaders, including some MPs, courted arrest outside the party headquarters here to protest the ED action. "The Modi 'sarkar' has unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies.
Prominent leaders of a number of political parties have been deliberately targeted and subjected to harassment in an unprecedented manner," the leaders charged in a joint statement. "We condemn this and resolve to continue and intensify our collective fight against the anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-Constitution policies of the Modi 'sarkar' that is destroying the social fabric of our society," they also said in the statement.
Senior Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the probe agency should first hold a press conference to spell out under what charges Sonia Gandhi is being probed. Former Home Minister P Chidambaram said the ED is not higher than the Supreme Court.
Earlier in the day, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had claimed that the media was also being prevented from entering the party headquarters