National Herald case: Sonia Gandhi appears before ED for questioning, Congress stages protests  

Thousands of Delhi Congress workers, under the leadership Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ch. Anil Kumar, today gheraoed Raj Niwas, the residence of the Lt. Governor at Civil Lines, to protest against the Enforcement Directorate questioning Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi, at the direction of the Modi Government, in the National Herald case, just to harass her as it was a drummed up case without any evidence. Ch. Anil Kumar and other senior leaders and workers were detained by the police despite holding a peaceful gherao.

Congress workers and leaders carried placards and banners with slogans such as “Soniaji Sangarsh Karo, Ham Tumhare Saath Hai”, “ED Se Na Dare Hai, Na Darenge, Janhit Me Awaz Udayenge” and “Sach Na Dara Hai, Na Darege—Satyamev Jayate” etc.

Kumar said that the Congress workers across the country will stand behind Sonia Ji like a fortress as the ED action to question her, after lengthy questioning of Shri Rahul Gandhi in the same case, was only to physically and mentally harass her, without giving any thought to her health and age factors. He said that the Congress leaders and workers will not be cowed down by the arm-twisting tactics of the ED at the direction of the Modi Government to gain some cheap political mileage, as there was nothing in the case. He said that Congress has a history of bravely facing the might of the British rulers and eventually driving them out to free the country. He said that Congress will not fear those forces who betrayed the country in the freedom movement.

Besides Kumar, prominent other leaders who participated in the gherao were former Delhi Speaker and DPCC president Shri Subhash Chopra, ex-MPs Shri Ramesh Kumar, Shri Sandeep Dikshit and Shri Parvez Hashmi, former Delhi Minister Dr Narendra Nath, Chairman of the DPCC Communications Department and ex-MLA Shri Anil Bhardwaj, DPCC vice-president and ex-MLA Jaikishan, DPCC vice-presidents Mudit Agarwal and Ali Mehndi, Treasurer Sandeep Goswami, ex-MLAs Bheesham Sharma, Harishankar Gupta, Rajesh Jain, Vijay Singh Lochav, Kunwar Karan Singh, Veer Singh Dhingan, Pradesh Youth Congress president Ranvijay Singh Lochav, Dr Naresh Kumar, Vice-chairmen of the Communications Department Shri Parvez Alam and Shri Anuj Attrey, Legal and Human Right Deptt. Chairman Advocate Sunil Kumar, IT Cell chairman Rahul Sharma, Shivam Bhagat and All DCC presidents and co-ordinators, leaders of Youth Congress, Mahila Congress, NSUI, Sewal Dal and the Cells and Departments.

Kumar said that the Modi Government has been using various agencies to harass and scare the Congress leaders and workers but Congress will not fear such tactics and bravely face any probe to expose the lies and falsehood of the Modi Government, which has hatched up a conspiracy to torment the top leadership of the Congress party through ED and CBI.

Kumar said that despite the ED questioning Shri Rahul Gandhi for nearly 54 hours, it could not unearth any wrong doing in the National Herald case. He said that Shri Rahul Gandhi stands for truth and integrity, and no force can stop him from telling the truth and working for the welfare of the people. He said that the Congress workers will go to any length to uphold the truth, and ED’s bid to put pressure on Smt. Sonia Gandhi will have no impact.

Kumar said that National Herald was run on a “no profit, no loss” basis and there was no illegality in its functioning. He said that there was no question of any corruption, and the BJP bid to put corruption allegation on the Congress leaders will not stand scrutiny.

He said that ED was putting pressure on Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Rahul Gandhi to backtrack on their firm stands against Modi Government’s corruption and favouritism, and the National Herald case has been raked up to merely defame the Congress, though there is not even an iota of corruption in Congress’ dealings in the Herald case.