The case was always long on rhetoric and short on legs, says eminent Supreme Court lawyer and Congress leader Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi
NEW DELHI — The court’s refusal to take cognisance of the enforcement case information report (ECIR) filed by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald case is a “slap on the face” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has said. The two leaders should also step down forthwith, Kharge said.
Addressing a press conference along with senior party leaders at his residence here on Wednesday morning, Kharge said that justice has prevailed in the matter. He noted that this must serve as a lesson to the prime minister and the home minister against misusing the CBI, ED and other investigating agencies against their political opponents.
He said the case was registered only to defame and malign the Gandhi family and the Congress party.
Kharge pointed out how the BJP government has weaponised the ED and misused the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against its political opponents. He said, so many MPs were made to defect to BJP and many governments across the states were formed using the ED.
Replying to a question on how to fight the battle politically, the Congress president said that the party will use all the fora from the “street to the Parliament” to expose the government and teach it a lesson.
Giving details of the court decision, senior party MP and eminent Supreme Court lawyer Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that law had spoken louder than noise. “The case was always long on rhetoric and short on legs”, he remarked, adding, “there was too much sound and fury signifying nothing”.
Singhvi said this story is a story of political vendetta and of harassment based on facts, which are remarkable, adding that there was written ‘noting’ on the files by the CBI and the ED between 2014 and 2021 that no predicate offence was made in the complaint filed by a private person, Subramanian Swamy (senior BJP leader). He said the court refused to take cognisance at the very threshold stage of criminal law, holding that even the minimum legal requirements for proceeding under the PMLA were not met.
Dr Singhvi pointed out that then suddenly in June 2021, despite adverse noting, the ED went ahead to file ECIR on the orders from the top. He said, everybody knows at whose behest the ECIR was filed, of which the court has refused to take cognisance.
Dr Singhvi said that this was a strange and unique case registered by the ED, in which not a penny had been moved and not an inch of an immovable property had been transferred from one person to another.
This was, he said, a simple case of conversion of debt into equity, which every company does. He said the Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which owned the National Herald and continues to own it, ran into losses and debts. Like every company, the AJL also decided to convert the debt into equity and the Young Indian purchased the shares.
He said, even the Young Indian is a ‘not for profit’ company and its directors get no salary, no dividends, no perks or incentives.
He noted, between 2021 and 2025, the ED questioned senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, for about 90 hours in total. Of this, he added, Rahul Gandhi alone was questioned for over 50 hours, yet nothing came out from the exercise.
The senior Supreme Court lawyer pointed out how the headlines were played up at the time of summoning and questioning to build up a narrative aimed at maligning Congress leaders.
He said the court orders had vindicated the Congress party’s stand that this case was registered out of sheer vendetta, without any merit or foundation. “The ED tried to construct a building without any foundation, which collapsed under its own weight”, he remarked.
Replying to a question, party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said the entire rank and file of the Congress is angry over the way the BJP was trying to harass and defame the party leaders. He said the party would take the fight to the grassroots and show to everyone how the central government was misusing the ED to target the Congress and other opposition leaders.
Party general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh and Chairman of the Media and Publicity Department Pawan Khera were also present at the press conference.
