The raids have drawn criticism from Congress veteran Jairam Ramesh, who described them as a part of the "continuous campaign upon India's primary opposition."
Digital Desk: On
Tuesday, Congress members demonstrated in front of the Herald House in Delhi as
the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out additional searches at least 12
places across the nation in relation to the alleged National Herald money-laundering
case, for which Sonia Gandhi, the party's interim president, and Rahul Gandhi,
a member of parliament, had already been questioned numerous times.
Congress workers could
be seen yelling "ED haye haye" as police attempted to disperse them
and maintain control of the situation in a video provided by news agency ANI.
According to ED
authorities, the raids were being conducted to gather paper evidence for the
federal agency's investigation into the Herald case. A week after Sonia Gandhi
was questioned for more than 11 hours over three days, the searches were
started. Rahul was questioned for more than 50 hours over the course of five
days in June while the Congress leader was questioned about her day-to-day
involvement with Young Indian Pvt Ltd (YI), its finances, and the acquisition
of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL).
The
raids have drawn criticism from Congress veteran Jairam Ramesh, who described
them as a part of the "continuous campaign upon India's primary
opposition."
"We vehemently condemn this political
vendetta against anyone who speak out against the Modi administration. We won't
be silent, you can't!" he tweeted.
When Sonia was being questioned by
the ED for the third time last week over the matter, protests also took place
in Kerala and Delhi. Party MPs and officials, including former leader Rahul
Gandhi, had organized a protest march and intended to meet with President
Droupadi Murmu once she had been sworn in. However, the opposition leader in
the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, as well as other protesting MPs was held
by the Delhi Police. Congress members were seen staging demonstrations and
obstructing rail tracks in videos that appeared online from Kerala.
India's first Prime Minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru, founded AJL in November 1937 and it published the Qaumi Awaz
in Urdu, Navjeevan in Hindi, and the National Herald. The corruption case was
filed after complaints from BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy nearly 10 years ago.
The Gandhis have been accused of financial fraud.
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