Congress MP Jairam Ramesh alleged this morning that the Delhi police are "preventing the media from entering the Congress party headquarters".
Ramesh claimed the police was "obviously taking orders from the union home minister" and that this "high-handedness...reflects the mindset of the Modi Sarkar".
From the early hours of this morning the Delhi Police—obviously taking orders from the Union Home Minister—is preventing the media from entering the Congress party headquarters. This high-handedness was only to be expected and reflects the mindset of the Modi Sarkar.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 21, 2022
Today is a crucial day for the Congress: party president Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to appear before the Enforcement Directorate today, so party leaders are congregating at their Delhi headquarters to organise protests.
Last month, both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi were summoned by the ED in a money laundering case linked to National Herald. Sonia could not appear in June because she had been recovering from Covid.
The party has described these summons as a "political vendetta". During a press conference this morning, Congress leader and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP government of "misusing central agencies", saying this was a sign that "democracy is in danger".
As the protests unfurled in Delhi, a clutch of Congress leaders, including Shashi Tharoor, Ajay Maken and P Chidambaram, were reportedly detained. Tharoor claimed three police buses full of MPs and party colleagues were being taken to "god knows where".
Speaking from inside a Delhi Police bus full of @INCIndia colleagues who have been detained & are being taken to an unknown destination for protesting the Government’s political vendetta against the Opposition pic.twitter.com/0wdTA9aRmk
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 21, 2022
Maken struck a more cheery note.
On our way to the gallows pic.twitter.com/bR5jjd3OkS
— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) July 21, 2022
But at the heart of this controversy is an old newspaper called National Herald. What is the case and how are the Gandhis linked to it? Newslaundry's video explainer breaks it down.
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