In a statement issued by Professor Gaurav Vallabh, National Spokesperson of the Indian National Congress (INC), the party said Thursday that all of the Bharatiya Janata (BJP) government's claims have been exposed in the last eight years. The statement said that the BJP government has been all about antics and substance, and when its incompetence is showing itself across all the spheres, it has yet again resorted to cheap tricks.
Through the statement, the Congress claimed that the questioning of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over the last few days is a clear case of maligning his reputation and a mere political stunt. The Congress also said that all the central agencies have been reduced to pawns in the hands of the government, and that they have been "queuing up to collect their blindfolds only to make a mockery of themselves".
The party stated that this is a series of events that the country is witnessing where a once reputed agency such as the ED is busy taking 'Enforced Directives' by the central government.
Two Instances Of Serious Allegations Pointed Out In The Statement
The statement pointed out instances of two serious allegations. Firstly, he stated that the Chairman of the Sri Lankan state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board claimed before a parliamentary panel that the honourable Prime Minister of India pressurised Sri Lankan President Shri Gotabaya Rajapaksa to award a wind power project to the Adani Group. “This is perhaps the first and only incident in the history of our country that allegations of such nature have been levelled against a PM,” the statement said. It posed the questions: “Why did the honorable PM want to pass on undue favors to a private individual? Why did the PM lower India’s pride by acting as a sales agent for a private individual? What was his compulsion? Why are ED and other agencies sleeping on this information?”.
Secondly, the statement said that as soon as the Modi government came to power in 2014, SBI drafted an in-principle agreement with the Adani group for a $1 Billion (Rs. 7,825 Crores) facility and brought in several banks worldwide to provide funding. The Congress further stated: “After constant protests, SBI backed off and scrapped the MoU. In 2020, news of another loan of Rs. 5,000 crores by State Bank of India to Adani’s Carmichael coal project in Australia became public. Pressure from investors like Amundi and AXA led to SBI’s loan being stuck. There have been no further updates since last year about the loan status. This looks like a concerted effort by someone to provide a loan to the Adani group. Does this not warrant ED’s intervention to call upon and investigate the involved individuals or entities?”
The statement further said that several other instances have warranted severe action by the central agencies, including the ED, but the agencies have chosen to look the other way.
Questions Posed To The BJP Government
The Congress posed three precise questions to the BJP government.
The statement said that the honourable Prime Minister was allegedly batting for business gains for a private individual in a foreign land. The INC posed the question: “Isn’t this a case of corruption worth investigating? Which bureaucrats or ministers is the ED planning to call for an investigation?”
The second question was: “Has the ED ever called anyone from the Adani group, or is it planning to call to investigate these serious allegations?”
The third question posed to the BJP government was what credibility does an agency like ED, who is on a political witch-hunt, but failing on its duty of investigating severe allegations and crimes, have.