The ghost of the National Herald case has once again come back to haunt the ‘one-family’ party. The Congress, it seemed, was struck by a tsunami as party chief Sonia Gandhi and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi received notices to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The comatose party sprung back to life organising press conferences and sit-ins in different parts of the country crying victimhood.
Even as the party tries to brush the summons as a case of political vendetta, it is amply clear that the case reeks of immoral and irregular conduct for the personal interests of ‘one family’. It is unfortunate that a party, which is desperately trying to pitch itself as the principal opposition in this country, has made protecting the interests of the Gandhi family its number 1 priority. What’s worse? The corruption case involving that one family has come to be the party’s principal agenda.
While it is well known that Congress is entrenched in corruption, the party should have avoided coming out openly in support of it. But given that for years the party has reduced itself to being a family enterprise revolving around the Gandhi family alone, this was an unavoidable situation.
In its open hooliganism being played out on streets in a desperate bid to hamper the due course of law, the Congress is defiantly insulting India’s democracy. If a case of financial irregularities against Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi becomes the party’s top agenda, then it just comes to show the moral and organisational bankruptcy of the party.
It is time for the Congress to introspect if its role in India’s democracy, which is marching on towards becoming a world economic powerhouse, has been reduced to merely dancing to the tunes of a particular dynasty.
What the Congress workers must remind themselves of is that this is not the first instance in history that a prominent leader of a political party has been summoned by investigation agencies for questioning. There are several instances.
After the Gujarat riots, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted on orders of the Supreme Court. No officer from Gujarat was part of the SIT. In the dock was then Gujarat Chief Minister, and now Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Modi appeared before the SIT after he was called in. The SIT pursued with its questions till it was satisfied it has gotten all the answers.
Not once did Modi say that “democracy is in danger” or “the Constitution is in danger”. Even more importantly, the BJP did not take to burning tyres on the road, blocking traffic and trying to give the incident a political colour.
In another instance of a tall leader being summoned by an investigating agency then Gujarat home minister Amit Shah, was tried in a fake encounter case. Not only was he questioned but was also forced to remain in jail for three months. Instead of egging on his supporters to clash with the police and create ruckus, Shah resigned from his post and decided to fight his case in a court of law. Eventually, he won the case. The SIT against Modi also found him innocent.
As the law of the land ruled, neither Modi nor Shah nor the BJP itself called the questioning or imprisoning a black spot on India’s democracy or a death knell for the Constitution of India, which all Indians take immense pride in.
It is baffling how the Constitution and democracy come under threat as soon as someone questions the first family of the Congress. The Congress wants the nation to believe that the measure of the strength of the Constitution and democracy of India lies in ignoring all sorts of allegations against this one family.
This isn’t the first instance when the family’s interests have taken precedence over the interests of India.
In 1975, the Allahabad High Court declared the election of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi invalid and banned her from contesting elections for six years. The decision came through a constitutional process. But Indira Gandhi considered it her divine right to remain in power. She held the country’s democracy hostage at midnight.
The present Congress regime is thus following the footsteps of their old leaders. Years of sycophancy have led Congress to convince itself that the Gandhi family is indeed bigger than the democratic institutions of the country.
The Congress’ stance on the issue of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi appearing before the ED in the National Herald case is reflective of this mindset. If the Congress wants to place the family before the party, it is their business. But if the Congress wants to place the family before India’s democratic institutions, they must understand – it won’t be allowed.
The author is associated with BJP think-tank SPMRF. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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