Congress' protest against corruption probe shows its decline: BJP

Rahul Gandhi being surrounded by Congress workers as he reaches ED office in New Delhi. Pic/Pallav Paliwal

Accusing the Congress of resorting to violent protests to "hide" its corruption, the BJP on Wednesday said the opposition party's stir shows its progressive decline and claimed that covering up the Gandhi family's alleged graft is the "true satya" of its "satyagraha".

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi invoked Mahatma Gandhi's decision to call-off the Congress's non-cooperation movement due to violence, and claimed that the party's "violent protests" now for opposing the probe in a case of corruption shows how small the party has become.

Addressing a press conference, Trivedi noted that Rahul Gandhi, who is being questioned by the ED in the National Herald case, is neither his party's president nor the leader of the opposition as he questioned the Congress's show of strength for him. The Congress has now become solely a family party, he claimed.

The BJP's attack on the Congress came as Rahul Gandhi appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday for the third consecutive day of questioning in the National Herald money-laundering case, with the agency seeking answers on decisions taken with regard to the media organisation and its owner Young Indian.

Also Read: National Herald case: Congress protest march in support of corruption, says Union minister Smriti Irani

Congress leaders and workers staged protests outside the ED office and the party headquarters here and were detained by police.
Both chief ministers of the party -- Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan and Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh -- and most of its MPs are in the national capital as part of the

Congress' protests against the ED's summons to Rahul Gandhi, he observed.

Are the two chief ministers not "betraying" the mandate given to them by their states by camping in the national capital, he asked.

"Violence that the Congress is resorting to cover up the blatant corruption of their leadership is exposing the true 'satya' of their so-called 'satyagraha'," he said on the protests by the Congress.

There are reports of Congress workers engaging in arson and violence in different parts of the country, he said.

Taking a swipe at the opposition party over the allegation that the Gandhi family "grabbed" assets of Associated Journals Limited, which publishes National Herald, through Young Indian, the BJP spokesperson said it was a strange case in which the leadership of a party has engaged in corruption by allegedly capturing assets linked to their own organisation. National herald has been associated with Congress.

Trivedi noted that the probe in the National Herald case was ordered by the Delhi High Court and dated to the time when the Congress-led UPA was in power.

The Congress is a party whose two prime ministers dedicated Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, to themselves, he said, alleging that its leadership has now dedicated assets of a party-linked organisation to themselves.

To a question about Maharashtra Congress leader Sheikh Hussain's derogatory reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trivedi said such "hateful" comments highlight the low and shallowness to which the Congress' mindset has fallen. He recalled that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had used "maut ka saudagar" (merchant of death) at Modi.

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