Former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot, on Sunday, alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) notice to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi was a conspiracy to humiliate both leaders under political malice.
Pilot said when the trustees of non-profitable organisation Young Indian did not take any salary/profit, then why was the notice served on Sonia and Rahul.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh came under fire from the Congress party's ‘Bharat Jodo Jan Abhiyan’. “We will not be afraid, we will not bow down, we will fight with our chest puffed up,” asserted Pilot while announcing that the Congress leaders across the country would stage Rs satyagrah' at the ED headquarters on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday afternoon, Sachin Pilot said that the voice of freedom movement, National Herald newspaper and Congress were no different. He said the National Herald was started to contribute to the freedom struggle and to uproot British rule.
“This newspaper was started in 1937 under the guidance of Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Acharya Narendra Dev, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and many patriots. The British felt so much danger from this newspaper that the British government had closed this newspaper from 1942 to 1945 during the Quit India Movement run by the Congress,” he pointed out.
He said that today again the ideology supporting the British rule of that time was hatching a nefarious conspiracy to suppress “this voice of freedom movement” and the head of this conspiracy was Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself and ED was his weapon.
Pilot said that there was an atmosphere of anger among the Congressmen all over the country regarding this fake and conspiratorial case against Sonia and Rahul. He said on Monday morning, all Congress MPs, MLAs, former MPs and MLAs, executive members, state executive officers, along with Sonia and Rahul would undertake a padyatra to the ED office under the ‘satyagraha’ programme which would be held at all the state headquarters across the country, including Uttar Pradesh on Monday.
Pilot alleged that in the National Herald case, the prime minister had used ED to serve notices on Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He claimed that when National Herald was going through an economic crisis, the Congress had given it a loan of Rs 90 crore in 10 years from 2002 to 2011, and asked if this was a crime? He said with that loan the National Herald paid the salaries of its employees and other debts of the publication, and asked if this was also a crime?
“Giving loans to anyone by a political party is not a crime. The BJP and the blind bhakts undoubtedly consider it a crime. It is not a crime to help the Associated Journals Limited which has been propagating the ideology of the Congress party since 1937. The Congress has also submitted the audit report and it was not considered a crime by the Election Commission of India,” Pilot said.
Terming the notice sent by the ED as bogus, Pilot said that when Associated Journals Limited could not repay the loan, the loan amount was converted into equity shares and as Congress could not hold equity shares, it gave them to a non-profit organisation called Young Indian.
Pilot, while clarifying the position, said that the shares or assets of Associated Journals Limited had not been transferred anywhere. He said Young Indian had not taken a single penny from Associated Journals Limited, adding that in the light of these facts the "ED" notice could be termed a conspiracy to humiliate Sonia and Rahul, motivated by political malice.
“Young Indian is controlling the Associated Journals Limited with 99 per cent shareholding and the members of the managing committee are not taking a single penny, then why are Sonia and Rahul being harassed by the ED?” Pilot asked, alleging that the BJP-RSS was trying to malign Congress leaders as a conspiracy in anger with the Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Jan Abhiyan’.