Reports of ED attachment of AJL properties "clear indication" of BJP's "panic" in state polls: Congress
Pattern of misuse of investigating agencies, specially ahead of elections, stands exposed, say party leaders
Responding to reports in national news outlets this evening that the Enforcement Directorate has attached AJL (Associated Journals Limited) properties worth Rs 751 crore, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said it betrays the "BJP's panic in the ongoing elections." AJL is the mother ship of the National Herald.
Readers hardly need reminding that the National Herald was founded by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. Its sister publications are Navjivan (in Hindi, co-founded by Mahatma Gandhi) and Qaumi Awaz.
Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted a statement from All-India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi "on the ED's actions this evening to defame the Congress in pursuance of the PM's politics of vendetta and vengeance".
Kharge took to social media platform X to say the ED actions are a "clear indication of the BJP's panic" over the certainty of its defeat in the ongoing state elections:
Staring at defeat in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram, the BJP Govt feels compelled to misuse its agencies.
This attempt too will fail and the BJP will be defeated in the polls.
This pattern of misuse of agencies during elections by the BJP establishment is not new and now stands fully exposed before the entire nation.
We at the National Herald can only agree with the commitment outlined in Kharge's message:
National Herald was the voice of the Freedom Movement. The Indian National Congress is proud of its role in the Freedom Movement.
We are reminded of Pandit Nehru's quote on the masthead of the newspaper -- “Freedom is in peril, Defend it with all your might”
We will continue to fight for the ideals on which our Democratic Republic is founded.
Senior MP Singhvi also echoed Kharge's sentiment in an earlier statement on behalf of the party, posting on X: "Reports of attachment of AJL properties by ED reflects their desperation to divert attention from certain defeat in the ongoing elections in each state."
He continued:
This is a prefabricated structure of deceit, lies and falsehood, of by and for the BJP, to divert, distract and digress in the middle of elections.
No BJP coalition partner—CBI, ED or IT—can prevent certain impending defeat of the BJP.
Addressing the charges brought by the ED, he noted: "PMLA action can only be consequential to some predicate or main offence. There is no transfer of any immovable property. There is no movement of money. There are no proceeds of crime."
Indeed, there is no complainant who claims to have been cheated: not a single one!!
These petty vendetta tactics shall not cow down the Congress or the opposition.
He concluded that the attempt was to "justify attachment (and) freezing of assets of a company which runs an iconic voice of Indian independence (movement)—National Herald—only (because it is) linked to INC and its legacy".
Singhvi's full formal statement on behalf of the Congress can be read below:
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