Indian Opposition Leader Protests Against His Own Corruption Probe

Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader of the opposition All India Congress Committee (AICC), on Monday protested against a corruption probe launched by the majority BJP Party that accused Gandhi and his mother of money laundering.

The AICC denounced the probe as a “well-planned conspiracy” to destroy BJP’s leading opponents with false charges.

Gandhi and his mother Sonia, who is president of the AICC, were accused by BJP member Subramanian Swamy of using a nonprofit corporation to launder party funds so they could take over the assets of a publisher called Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

AJL’s most famous publication was the National Herald, a newspaper launched in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru, who would go on to become the first prime minister of independent India in 1947. 51-year-old Rahul Gandhi is Nehru’s great-grandson.

The National Herald played a major role in the independence movement and became one of India’s top newspapers, although it ceased publication in 2008 due to financial difficulties and was reborn as a website in 2016. 

According to Swamy, who filed his first complaint against the Gandhis in 2012, AICC funds were illegally pumped through a shell company in a “malicious” effort to acquire property owned by AJL in several Indian cities.

The AICC claims that it merely tried to keep the parent company of the legendary National Herald afloat by loaning it some money, a debt AJL ultimately repaid by swapping debt for equity. The company Swamy described as a sham front operation, Young India Private Ltd., is a registered non-profit that supposedly pays no dividends to its shareholders. Young India claims none of AJL’s property has been transferred to any other owner.

Gandhi was summoned on Monday to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), India’s financial crimes agency, to answer questions about the case. He decided to lead a protest march to ED headquarters, accompanied by many of his party’s leaders, including his sister Priyanka. His mother Sonia is currently hospitalized in stable condition with a coronavirus infection and is scheduled to make a delayed appearance before the ED on June 23.

The Delhi police said AICC did not apply for the necessary permits to conduct a protest march. Hundreds of party members were accordingly detained by the authorities when they arrived at the Enforcement Directorate on Monday morning.

“Security have been stepped up as per the proposed march by the Congress leaders despite denying them permission. All the routes leading to their proposed destination have been heavily barricaded with adequate deployment of forces as a precautionary measure,” a police spokesperson said.

The AICC on Monday accused India’s ruling BJP party of abusing the Enforcement Directorate as a political instrument for intimidating its opponents.

“Whenever there is an election in any state, they start raiding the houses of the opposition leaders. Over the last eight years, the ED has registered around 11,000 cases and trial has not started in the majority of them,” AICC spokesperson Sanjay Nirupam charged.

“Today, India’s economic condition is not that different from Sri Lanka as its unemployment figures have reached around 22 crore (220 million). The BJP is instigating communal violence in the country to hide its failures,” Nirupam continued, referring to the economic meltdown and catastrophic shortages of food and energy in Sri Lanka.

Gandhi spent nine hours at the ED office on Monday, with a break for lunch. Police officials promised to look into complaints that some AICC demonstrators were handled roughly during their arrests.