“We will never bow down”
Image: PTI
New Delhi: The first court hearing of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald Case on Saturday saw the party putting up a grand show of power and unity. Much of the Congress’ top brass turned up in a show of utmost support, including the rest of the Gandhi family— Priyanka and Robert Vadra. The Patiala House complex in Delhi became the epicenter for another one of the Congress’ attacks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, blaming him for undertaking ‘vendetta politics’.
Said one of the two accused Gandhis in the gargantuan case, Rahul Gandhi, “Modi ji has always made false allegations but we will never bow down. I respect the law and will continue to fight. I will always work for the people of the country, especially the poor, and no one can stop me or the Congress party.” As the mother-son duo stood strong by former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the case took a real politically inclined turn when Manmohan Singh filed the bail papers for Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra did the same for her brother, at a bond of Rs. 50,000 each. Meanwhile, the rest of the classic party has been carrying out major demonstrations across the country, in an attempt to demolish the Centre and the Prime Minister’s reputation and to exalt its own position through the issue.
The case, filed after BJP’s Subramanian Swamy officially complained about the Gandhis using Congress Party funds to buy large areas property from The National Herald, a declining newspaper. He claimed that several other senior Congress leaders were involved and the land allowed to the newspaper after Independence by the government was also one of Gandhis’ attempts of land acquisition.
Vinay Pradan, Congress President in Meerut commented on the issue, defending the top leaders, “Nobody made any undue profits from National Herald. All allegations against senior Congress leaders are completely false. Subramanian Swamy does not have a case and the case will fall after the first few hearings in court. The aim is to harass any dissenting party. That is the model that Narendra Modi has functioned. When he was chief minister of Gujarat, he would set up similar false cases against anybody who questioned his role in the 2002 riots. The harassment of Teesta Setalvad and Sanjiv Bhatt are such examples. Now that he is the PM, he is training his guns against opposition parties. First he levels these charges against Sonia and Rahul ji and then he got the CBI to raid the office of the Delhi chief minister. If he continues this political vendetta and attempts to send our leaders to jail, we will not be scared of following them. We will go to jail with them. How many Congress workers will Modi jail? History is witness that political vendetta always backfires. When Indira Ji was jailed, it backfired on the government of the day. We see an image of Indira ji in her daughter-in-law.”
Another President, from Bijnor district took the issue back to the raids in the office of the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minster recently, adding that the government now seems to be aiming its guns at prime leaders. The newspaper in question was originally owned by Associated Journals Limited (AJL), until it as closed down by Sonia Gandhi in 2009. In June last year, the court had summoned some Congress leaders in the acquisition deal of AJL by Young India Limited, partly owned by the Gandhis. It was a complaint filed by Swamy that triggered the case last time as well.
Tweeted Swamy after the bail order, “I did not oppose bail today, only opposed exemption. Thus the accused all produced bail for Rs. 50 000. No exemption. No bail boast?”
With the next hearing son February 20, 2016, people are expecting the truth to come out with few twists.
Source: The Times Of India
Tags: Congress Gandhi family National Herald National Herald case Rahul Gandhi Sonia Gandhi
