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Journalism of Courage
As the Parliament’s Winter Session began on a stormy note, with the Opposition demanding a discussion on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Red Fort blast and other issues, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress continued to trade barbs against each other over the National Herald case.
A fresh FIR was filed by the Enforcement Directorate with the Delhi Police, levelling allegations against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on Sunday. The agency claims that government-allotted properties, originally granted to Associated Journals Limited (AJL) at concessional rates for public welfare, were diverted for private benefit.
While the Congress slammed the NDA over multiple issues, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh urged the grand old party to answer for the “loot” of the National Herald. Chugh also alleged that the Congress “waived off loans worth Rs 90 crores for just Rs 50 lakhs” as part of a big conspiracy.
In a video posted on X by ANI, Chugh is heard saying, “The Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi is in a state of panic, frustration and outcry over National Herald. This is unfortunate. Freedom fighters’ money was openly looted… Corruption has been done. By waiving off loans worth Rs 90 crore for just Rs 50 lakh. Assets have been seized. The Congress has done this as part of a big conspiracy and is enacting a political drama. Instead of giving speeches, the Congress should answer for the loot of the National Herald. The Supreme Court has accepted that this is a case of fraud and forgery and the Gandhi-Nehru family will have to face trial.”
The Congress was swift to hit back with its “national harassment case” jibe. Congress MP and senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi termed the case as the BJP’s recycled obsession. In a video posted on X by ANI, Singhvi is heard saying, “This is a bizarre situation. No crime, no cash, no trail to find. The BJP still conjures a case of its own twisted mind. If justice is blind, then ED is colour blind. It only sees one colour, the opposition colour. It’s a case with no money movement, no movement of immovable property, no misuse, yet the ED in its imagination, sees money laundering. Today, fiction has found a uniform. If vendetta were a syllabus, the BJP would graduate with honours. From a private complaint to a public circus, the National Herald case is the BJP’s recycled obsession… This is not the National Herald Case, this is the National Harassment case…”
On April 9, the ED filed a chargesheet against seven people, including Sonia and Rahul, in connection with the case. Both Sonia and Rahul were questioned in 2022 as part of the probe. The central agency had earlier served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore — in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow — that it had attached as part of the money laundering probe against AJL, which publishes the National Herald newspaper, and Young Indian, which owns it.
The FIR, registered on October 3 by one Shiv Kumar Gupta, Assistant Director with the ED, mentioned names of Sonia and Rahul, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, Young Indian, Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd, Sunil Bhandari, Associated Journals Ltd and unknown people under Indian Penal Code Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
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