National Herald case: When govt fails, Opposition has to clear ED ‘exam', says Akhilesh Yadav

Akhilesh Yadav's comments came amid the ongoing questioning of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by the ED in the National Herald case.

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday dubbed the Enforcement Directorate as ‘Examination in Democracy’ and said in politics the opposition is required to clear 'this exam' when the government fails.

He said those who are ‘prepared’ are not afraid of any examination. "The meaning of ED is now ‘Examination in Democracy’. In politics, the opposition is required to clear this exam. When the government fails, it announces this exam. Those who have prepared well are neither afraid of written-reading exam nor verbal exam...And you should never be afraid," Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

ED का मतलब अब ‘Examination in Democracy’ बन गया है। राजनीति में विपक्ष को ये परीक्षा पास करनी होती है। जब सरकार स्वयं फ़ेल हो जाती है तब वो इस परीक्षा की घोषणा करती है। जिनकी तैयारी अच्छी होती है वो न तो लिखा-पढ़ी की परीक्षा से डरते हैं, न मौखिक से… और कभी डरना भी नहीं चाहिए।

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) June 15, 2022

His reaction comes amid the ongoing questioning of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by the ED in the National Herald case. Meanwhile, Congress today accused the BJP government of blocking political activities by preventing party workers from entering its headquarters and said the ruling dispensation will have to face consequences.

On the third consecutive day of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the ED in the National Herald money-laundering matter, the party's Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel said this was the first time in the country's history that a national party's offices were put out of bounds of its own workers.

"The atmosphere in the country is in front of everyone to see. I could not bring my own staff inside the AICC office. No one else is allowed. Political activists cannot enter their party offices. This is happening for the first time in the country," Baghel said. "They are trying to stop political activities of leaders. You can only suppress someone till a limit, and now, all limits have been crossed," he said.

Baghel's convoy was stopped by the Delhi Police on Tuesday from visiting the Badarpur police station, where some party leaders were under preventive detention for violating prohibitory orders in central Delhi.

The Chhattisgarh chief minister said the BJP's "nationalism is imported", under which "whosoever raised a voice against them is being crushed". He said Rahul Gandhi was being targeted for questioning the government on issues of governance and public concerns.

Reiterating the charge that the ED summons against the Gandhis were "political vendetta", Gehlot said these past eight years would be marked as the "black chapter in India's history".

He cautioned that the atmosphere in the country was "very dangerous" and recalled Gandhi's recent remarks made at a London event where he had said "kerosene had been poured all over India".

"No one knows what will happen tomorrow. There is a sense of fear in every alley, every home," Gehlot said, as he appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the nation and denounce violence.

"Party workers are stopped from entering our own office. Democracy is in danger, and the Constitution is being violated. The approach of RSS-BJP is very dangerous," he said. On the National Herald case, Gehlot said Rs 90 crore was given in 100 installments to revive the newspaper, and there was no wrongdoing.

"The ED notices have been given only to harass and target the Gandhis. The government will have to face the consequences as people have understood everything," the Rajasthan chief minister said.

Congress said it would later take a call on whether to meet the President and the prime minister to raise the ongoing "high-handedness" against its workers. AICC general secretary and party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surewala alleged that the BJP dispensation "continued to feed wrong information about the ED case against Rahul Gandhi to TV channels".

Top Congress leaders have been courting arrest in solidarity with Rahul Gandhi for three days, with central Delhi under section 144 of CrPC, which bans the gathering of more than four people.