New Delhi (TIP)- Congress leaders and workers protested across the country on Thursday, July 21,  against what they called the government’s conspiracy to silence the Opposition as the Enforcement Directorate questioned Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald case. Senior leaders said there was no need for the interrogation as all the relevant information had been in the public domain for several years. They alleged that the government’s real objective was to frighten the Congress leadership into giving up posing uncomfortable questions to Narendra Modi. And the implied message to all critics and opponents of the government was that if Sonia and Rahul Gandhi could be treated in this manner, others could not hope to be spared, they said. “There is no substance to the National Herald case. They grilled Rahul Gandhi for five days, till late in the night every day. We never saw such an interrogation in history despite so many big scams,” Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said. “Now the 75-year-old, ailing Congress president has been summoned. This is low-grade behaviour,” the chief minister added. “They could have sent a couple of officers to her residence to record her statement if it was that important to the investigation,” Gehlot said.

He added: “We know that everybody is equal before the law. But it is not so under the Modi regime. Those who are with Modi are immune to the power of law. Ongoing cases are put in the cold storage when you join the BJP. Only opponents are to be harassed. “They are setting a dangerous precedent. There is an atmosphere of fear and suffocation. Don’t think that Hindutva will keep you in power forever.” Party spokesperson Pawan Khera, who addressed the media with Gehot, said: “Everybody sees the political alliance of the Modi government with the central agencies. The conspiracy is to silence critics and opponents. They don’t want us to show them the mirror; they get intolerant when we recall their false promises and expose their betrayal. “But the perception of the Congress they have in mind is based on the cowards who defected. They don’t know the Gandhi-Nehru family and the real Congress.” If the government’s intention is indeed to scare the Congress into silence with the case, the result has so far been unsatisfactory because it has caused the largely inactive Congress workers to erupt in anger.

While party workers protested across the country, the mobilisation in Delhi was far bigger than the protests seen during Rahul’s interrogation. While all the office-bearers and senior leaders assembled at the Congress headquarters, MPs protested in both Houses and then marched to the party office. All of them courted arrest as the police refused to let them march to the ED office. Senior leaders and MPs were detained at various police stations and released only after Sonia’s three-hour questioning ended. The Youth Congress, Mahila Congress and student arm NSUI held flash demonstrations at several spots. Youth Congress workers stopped trains and road traffic in Delhi defying the heavy police deployment. The Congress sought a discussion in Parliament on the subject of the central agencies harassing Opposition leaders and the government’s other critics. A statement by 13 parties accusing the government of vendetta politics too was released.

“The Modi sarkar has unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies,” the statement said.

Source: Telegraphindia