A fierce political showdown has erupted between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet naming Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case.
The BJP came out swinging, accusing the Gandhis of "looting the country" and labeling the episode as the "Gandhi model of development." Former Union Law Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that the Congress leadership misappropriated massive real estate assets owned by Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the National Herald.
“The law will take its own course,” said Prasad, asserting that investigative agencies will not be intimidated by the Congress' reaction. He called on the party to answer the core allegations rather than deliver political statements. According to Prasad, the Congress transferred ownership of AJL to the Young India company—of which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are 76% stakeholders—by writing off a Rs 90 crore loan for a mere Rs 50 lakh investment.
Highlighting the historical relevance of the publication, Prasad said, “A newspaper that was established in the freedom struggle to espouse the voice of those fighting British imperialism degenerated into a money-minting exercise for the Congress party establishment.” He also brought up allegations of land grabbing involving Priyanka Gandhi’s husband, Robert Vadra.
The Congress, however, hit back strongly, calling the chargesheet part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vendetta politics.”
“This is Narendra Modi's vendetta politics... We will face this in court,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told ANI. “You can see people's anger, our workers' anger. It shows that PM Narendra Modi is scared of our leaders and all the issues raised by us. Rahul Gandhi is someone who is not scared of you. This is a bogus case.”
Shrinate questioned how a money laundering chargesheet could be filed when “not even one paisa was laundered, and not even one asset was transferred.” She pointed out that Young India is a non-profit organisation and accused the government of reviving a 12-year-old “false case” at a politically convenient time.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot also termed the case as “politically motivated,” stating that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi were being “purposefully targeted.”
Following the chargesheet, the Congress launched nationwide protests against the Modi-led Central Government and its investigative agencies. Demonstrations were held across several states, with senior leaders taking part. In Delhi, multiple Congress leaders were detained by police as they tried to cross barricades near the party’s headquarters.
