Facing ED action in his alleged role in a money laundering case related to National Herald, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday launched a frontal attack against the centre, targeting it over democracy, unemployment, inflation and a host of other issues.
Significantly, the Congress party organised the press conference on Friday, two days after the Enforcement Directorate raided several locations linked to Congress mouthpiece National Herald in Delhi in connection with a money laundering case. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are prime accused in the National Herald case. The Mother-Son duo of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, along with their aides – Oscar Fernandez, Motilal Vohra and Sam Pithroda are alleged to have been involved in a massive ‘cheating and breach of trust’ in the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) by Young Indian Pvt Ltd (YIL). Assets worth crores of rupees had been allegedly transferred for purposes other than originally intended for a paltry sum.
Here’s what the Congress leader spoke in his press conference held earlier today:
“Congress is fighting against the entire infrastructure of India”
Alleging that the Centre has taken over control of all the democratic institutions in the country, the Wayanad MP candidly admitted that his party is fighting the entire infrastructure of India. Gandhi said the Centre had deployed its people in various institutions and seized control of them.
In what appeared as an attempt to garner public sympathy over the Gandhi family’s alleged involvement in the National Herald money laundering case, Rahul Gandhi instead blamed the RSS for infiltrating every democratic institution in the country.
“The opposition fights in a democracy banking on institutions-legal, judicial, electoral structure and media. All those institutions are supporting the government because the government has appointed its own people inside institutions. Every institution in the country is not independent. Every institution in the country is controlled by RSS. One RSS leader is sitting in every institution. We are not fighting against a political party, but the entire infrastructure of the country. When our government was there, the infrastructure would remain neutral. We wouldn’t control the infrastructure,” Gandhi claimed.
Rare Confession by Congress leader #Pappu Rahul Gandhi
— Naren Mukherjee 🇮🇳 (@narendra52) August 5, 2022
Says they are fighting against whole infrastructure of India 🙄🙄🙄👇 pic.twitter.com/BaDUxEFwsA
“Today there is no democracy in India, there is dictatorship of four people”
For years now, Rahul Gandhi and Congress have made false allegations against the Centre that it is the government of a few businessmen and is working toward enriching them.
Despite being proven otherwise, time and again, Rahul Gandhi keeps trotting out the same tropes in the hope that they will stick in the subconscious minds of the poor and spawn an anti-Modi wave among the masses. Even though those efforts have run into the ground thus far, the Wayanad MP has not given up on them, especially when he has no better alternative to offer to the public. And he did exactly that during the press conference on Friday.
“The idea is that people’s issues whether they are price rise, unemployment, and violence in society must not be raised. That is the sole agenda of the government. The government is being run to protect the interest of 4 or 5 people. This dictatorship is being run in the interest of 2 or 3 big businesspeople by two people,” Gandhi said.
#BREAKING | Rahul Gandhi attacks BJP, says ‘India under dictatorship, democracy is dead’#Congress #Protest #Delhi pic.twitter.com/qm4QUST8tC
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) August 5, 2022
In the wake of the Enforcement Directorate tightening its noose around the Gandhi family over their alleged involvement in the National Herald money laundering case, Gandhi seemed inclined to use every arrow in his quiver to deflect the public attention from his family’s purported role in the case and paint them as the victim of government repression.
While Gandhi attacked the Centre over the “death of democracy”, he did not elaborate on the reasons why the Congress party is referred to as a “dynasty party” and why the party has failed to appoint a non-Gandhi as the president of the party for a long time now.
“I enjoy when opponents attack me”: Rahul Gandhi fails to answer specifics of the National Herald Case
Interestingly, Gandhi skirted questions when asked about the specifics of the National Herald money laundering case and instead slammed the government for the ED action against the accused in the cheating case. Claiming victimhood that more such attacks will continue against him and Sonia Gandhi, the Wayanad MP said, “I get great joy when my political opponents attack me.” The Gandhi scion termed the ED action against his family a systematic attempt as it represents an ideology. He also warned of “devastating consequences” owing to the alleged democracy decline in India.
“If you get the chance, go and talk to the ED officers who interrogated me. They will tell you what happened in that room,” he said while talking about the National Herald case. “Question all you want. There’s absolutely nothing there. Everyone knows it. My job is to resist the idea of RSS. I am going to do it.”
Gandhi further added, “They attack the Gandhi family because we fight for an ideology. There are crores of people in the country like us. We fight for democracy, and communal harmony and have been fighting for many years. I am not the only one who has been fighting. My family has laid down their lives.”
