National Herald case: Congress protests outside ED offices in northeastern states

Congress leaders and workers on Wednesday staged protests outside the ED offices in different northeastern states, protesting what they called the BJP-led Central government’s ‘politics of vendetta’ over the agency’s charge sheet against senior party leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in connection with the National Herald case.

Congress leaders claimed that through false allegations, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the direction of the Central government filed a chargesheet against the party's Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, among others.

A huge contingent of security forces was deployed in front of the ED offices in all the northeastern states.

In Imphal, Congress workers gathered in large numbers outside the ED office shouting slogans of ‘Sonia Gandhi Zindabad’, ‘Rahul Gandhi Zindabad’, ‘Tanashahi Nahi Chalegi’ ‘Modi-Shah jawab Do’ and ‘ED shame-shame’. Former three-term Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Okram Ibobi Singh (2002-2017) and Manipur state Congress President Keisham Meghachandra Singh led the party leaders and workers in the protest.

In Agartala, Tripura state Congress President Asish Kumar Saha, sitting party MLAs Sudip Roy Barman and Gopal Roy, former state party chief and senior lawyer Pijush Kanti Biswas, led the protest, held in front of the ED office on the outskirts of the capital city. Roy Barman, while addressing the protesters, said that the Central BJP leaders were afraid of Congress leaders’ popularity. “To protect democracy and the Constitution, Rahul Gandhi would further intensify his fight against the BJP government,” he said.

In Kohima, leaders and workers of the Nagaland Congress held a protest in front of the ED office in the capital city. Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) President S Supongmeren Jamir said that the party stands for minorities, Other Backward Communities, tribals and common people.

“The Central government, through the ED, has been trying to silence the Congress leaders. Wednesday’s countrywide mass movement is to protect democracy from RSS-BJP attacks,” Jamir said.

Similar protests were also held in Assam and other northeastern states.

The ED had on Tuesday filed a chargesheet in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper. Besides Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the chargesheet names Congress leaders Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey as co-accused.

The case, based on a 2014 complaint by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, relates to the alleged acquisition of properties worth over Rs 2,000 crore by Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of National Herald, and their subsequent transfer to Young Indian – a company in which both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi each hold a 38 per cent stake.