Nationalist Congress Party leaders threw their weight behind Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday following a gruelling interrogation in connection with a money laundering case.
Earlier, NCP chief Sharad Pawar rebuked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government, remarking that Mr. Malik was being harassed for being vocal against the Centre’s misuse of central agencies and that there was “nothing surprising” about the interrogation.
Following Mr. Malik’s arrest, a meeting between Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Mr. Pawar and State Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil is to take place at Mr. Thackeray official residence ‘Varsha’ later today evening. The BJP has called for Mr. Malik's resignation, with BJP State president Chandrakant Patil stating that the NCP leader had no moral claim to being part of the State cabinet now.
Earlier, the leadership of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government [of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress] lashed out at the BJP with Mr. Pawar spearheading the verbal charge.
“We were certain that something like this would happen soon. Nawab Malik had been outspoken against the Centre and its misuse of agencies…Those who express their views openly against the BJP government and the investigating agencies, those who speak the truth, are being harassed,” said the NCP chief.
He further said that it was very easy (for the Centre) to invoke Dawood Ibrahim’s name particularly in regards to a Muslim party activist against whom some old case will be dug up by the agencies.
‘Easy to link a Muslim worker with Dawood’
“It is easy to link a Muslim [political] worker with Dawood [Ibrahim]. I also faced similar allegations when I was Chief Minister of Maharashtra. An environment was created [against me] which lasted for some 25 years… Link people with a name, harass and defame them by misusing power. The same is happening in this case,” Mr. Pawar said.
NCP State president and Maharashtra Minister Jayant Patil said that Mr. Malik had been taken from his residence at around 6 a.m. by the ED without any notice being served on him.
“This has now become a familiar pattern which began with the ED targeting Anil Deshmukh and other ministers of the MVA government. But the NCP stands firmly behind Mr. Malik,” said Mr. Patil.
A massive throng of NCP activists and Mr. Malik’s supporters gathered outside the ED office, raising slogans in support of the minister and against the Central government as security was beefed up.
Supriya Sule, the NCP MP from Baramati, said that the ED interrogation was hardly surprising given Mr. Malik’s vocal stance against the Centre.
“For the last few months, we [NCP leaders] have frequently been given such threats [of probes by the ED or other central agency] by their [BJP] leaders on social media platforms like Twitter…Given that Nawab Malik was conducting one expose after another, it was anticipated that he would soon be troubled by a central agency. It is unfortunate that Maharashtra’s politics have come down to such a level,” said Ms. Sule.
Following Mr. Malik’s arrest later in the day, Congress MP Husain Dalwai said that the BJP was indulging in “the politics of malice”.
“This is a party [BJP] that is groomed on the hate of Nathuram Godse [Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin]. Nothing else can be expected from this party,” said Mr. Dalwai.
Calling Mr. Malik’s interrogation “a deliberate challenge” to the stability of the ruling MVA government, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the BJP’s misuse of central agencies would not last beyond the 2024 Lok Sabha election, which would see a change at the Centre.
Fadnavis allegation triggered ED probe?
NCP Rajya Sabha MP Majeed Menon questioned whether the ED probe was being conducted following BJP Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis’ allegations against the NCP leader.
“It appears the ED probe is being done at the behest of Mr. Fadnavis… This is the same ED which had summoned Mr. Pawar himself, but had quickly backed down. Moreover, had the ED any evidence against Mr. Malik, they ought to have conducted it quietly rather than propagating it on all television channels… secrecy is the hallmark of a fair investigation,” said Mr. Menon, questioning why the ED had woken up after 17 years to dig up a 2005 case against Mr. Malik.
Last year, it was Mr. Fadnavis who had alleged that Mr. Malik had apparently struck a property deal with 1993 Mumbai bomb blast convict Sardar Shahwali Khan and Mohd Salim Ishaq Patel, said to be the ‘frontman’ of Haseena Parkar, Dawood Ibrahim’s sister.
“A prime property of 2.80 acres at LBS Marg in Kurla was brought by Solidus Investment Private Limited for a meagre Rs. 30 lakh. The signatory of the deal transacted was Faraz Malik, who is Nawab Malik’s son," Mr. Fadnavis had alleged.
The ED last week had raided at least ten locations in Mumbai and neighbouring areas, including Parkar’s residence, in connection with the money laundering case. It also questioned some businessmen last week. Dawood Ibrahim’s brother, Iqbal Kaskar, is already in the ED’s custody.
Malik joins list of MVA ministers interrogated by Central agencies
Mr. Malik’s interrogation is one of a long line of crackdowns by central agencies which began with former State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and included MVA leaders like the NCP’s Ajit Pawar and the Shiv Sena’s Anil Parab, Sanjay Raut and Pratap Sarnaik among others.
