Judiciary has exposed Modi govt for targeting political opponents in National Herald case: Stalin

Welcoming the ruling of a Delhi court refusing to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering complaint in the National Herald case implicating Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Tuesday termed it yet another instance of the judiciary exposing the Modi government’s blatant misuse of central agencies to target opposition leaders and malign them.

While extending solidarity with the Congress leadership, Stalin accused the BJP of being ‘hell-bent on hounding the Gandhi family’. Taking to his ‘X’ handle, he wrote: “In the National Herald case, the judiciary has once again exposed the Union BJP government’s misuse of central agencies to target opposition leaders. Without any legal basis, such cases are pushed only to harass and malign political rivals.”

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He was reacting to the order pronounced by Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue courts, who held that the prosecution complaint by the Enforcement Directorate was not maintainable in law, as it was not based on an FIR relating to a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court also observed that the money laundering proceedings were initiated on the basis of a private complaint filed under Section 200 of the CrPC by Dr Subramnian Swamy.

“With truth on their side and no fear, CPP Chairperson Respected Tmt Sonia Gandhi and Hon’ble LoP, my brother Thiru Rahul Gandhi, stand vindicated, even as the BJP remains hell bent on hounding the Gandhi family for standing firm on secularism and constitutional values which it cannot tolerate.,” read the post, adding, “Time and again, this vendetta-driven approach is tarnishing the credibility of premier investigating institutions and reducing them to just being instruments of political intimidation.”