Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhatti Vikramarka has said that harassment of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi by the BJP government was reeking of vindictiveness against those who stood for principles and sacrificed for the nation’s sake.
At a press conference here, he said the Enforcement Directorate has become an election wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the way it is being misused to target the opposition parties and the Congress leadership, in particular, is bound to hit them hard.
Mr.Bhatti said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amith Shah were using these state agencies like Enforcement Directorate, IncomeTax and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to harass the opposition parties.
The ED notices to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on National Herald newspaper were nothing but witch-hunting similar to that of Indira Gandhi. How can the government target the Nehru-Gandhi family who has sacrificed their wealth for the country in the Independence struggle and lives to ensure that India doesn’t disintegrate, he asked.
Recalling how Indira Gandhi bounced back to power after people revolved against the then Janata Party government for harassing her, he said Congress would bounce back this time too as people hate such vindictiveness from the government. He said people revolved against the Janata Government in the 1980 elections after it started harassing Indira Gandhi and expelling her from Parliament. History is proof that vindictiveness and harassment of opposition leaders will not go down well with the people, he said.
He said Mrs. Indira Gandhi was elected for Lok Sabha from Chikmangaluru constituency, Karnataka, in November, 1978. Then Janatha Party Government humiliated her in Parliament and even expelled her from Lok Sabha in December, 1978, on the grounds of contempt of the House, which was the first time in the history of the House.
However, Indira Gandhi came back strongly as people revolved against harassment of such a leader as they did not like the way the government had targeted the opposition parties, which are part of a healthy democracy. She was then elected from the Medak Lok Sabha constituency.
The CLP leader said the Congress would fight back like Indira Gandhi and demanded that PM Modi and Home Minister, Amit Shah restrain from targeting the Gandhi family and the opposition parties or else they have to face people’s wrath.
