The Enforcement Directorate’s raids on the premises of two Congress leaders as part of a money laundering probe, and a summons issued to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son, led to a political slugfest on Thursday ahead of the State’s Assembly election. Mr. Gehlot accused the BJP-led Union government of using the Enforcement Directorate (ED) like “swarms of locusts”.
The ED conducted raids at State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra’s residences in Jaipur and Sikar, and at Om Prakash Hudla’s hotel in Dausa district’s Mahuwa, where he has been fielded as the Congress candidate for the upcoming poll. The raids were part of the ED’s investigation of the leak of a general knowledge question paper in the senior teacher grade II competitive examination of 2022.
The summons issued to Vaibhav Gehlot in a foreign exchange violation case asked him to depose before the ED at its headquarters in New Delhi on October 27. This case pertains to a Rajasthan-based hospitality group, whose promoter had earlier been the junior Mr. Gehlot’s business partner in a car rental company. The ED reportedly wants to record Mr. Vaibhav Gehlot’s statement under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
Congress protests
The raids led to tension in the State capital and Congress party workers staged massive protests in both Jaipur and Sikar, raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While an armed escort of the Central Reserve Police Force accompanied the ED teams, the State police force was also deployed on the roads to keep the situation under control.
The ED had earlier arrested several people, including former Rajasthan Public Service Commission member Babulal Katara, and seized properties and cash worth crores of rupees in the paper leak case. The accused had allegedly provided the question paper to candidates appearing in the exam for ₹8 lakh to ₹10 lakh each.
Addressing a hurriedly called press conference, the Chief Minister slammed the BJP government at the Centre, accusing it of unleashing terror in the country. “They are misusing the Central investigating agencies to target Congress leaders because of the fear of BJP’s defeat in the Assembly polls. The raids were made without any complaint having been made to the ED,” he said.
‘Swarms of locusts’
Mr. Ashok Gehlot said that the BJP was targeting him through the ED raids because it had failed to topple his government in 2020. Moreover, raids were happening wherever elections were held, he said, including in States such as Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress had won despite the misuse of Central agencies.
“The Centre is using the ED like the swarms of locusts, which eat everything and destroy the crops... There are clear indications that the BJP is going to lose the election in Rajasthan,” he said. The senior Mr. Gehlot also questioned the summons issued to his son, which asked him to appear before the ED within two days. “Is it a joke?” he asked.
ED’s raid record
The Chief Minister contrasted the ED’s record of raids conducted and charge-sheets filed in cases during the UPA rule, and after 2014. He said 112 searches by the ED happened during the 10 years of the UPA regime, with charge-sheets filed in 104 cases. After 2014, as many as 3,010 raids happened, but charge-sheets were filed in just 881 cases, he said.
Mr. Ashok Gehlot pointed out that the raids in Rajasthan were conducted a day after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra announced two welfare guarantees for people during a rally in Jhunhunu. “We are going to announce five more guarantees tomorrow. Let them prepare a list of five more Congress leaders in advance for the ED raids,” he said.
The Congress’ State in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and State Ministers Mahesh Joshi and Pratap Singh Khachariyawas were among those present at the press conference.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the Central agencies become the BJP’s ‘Panna Pramukhs’ as soon as the elections come, adding that the Modi-led government’s “dictatorship” was fatal for democracy.
