But politics take over first, thousands of Cong workers descend on party HQ in a massive show of solidarity .
New Delhi : The end was almost anti-climactic as Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul along with the other accused – Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey – in the National Herald case were granted bail on personal bond by Delhi’s Metropolitan magistrate Lovleen and asked to appear next on February 20th.
The only element of drama was the court’s rejection of the complainant Subramaniam Swamy’s contention that the accused are influential and could flee the country. For the rest everything else proceeded as per the script. “The accused are reputed persons having deep political grassroots and there is no apprehension that they will flee,” the Magistrate noted while granting them bail on furnishing personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and one surety. He posted the case for further hearing at 2 pm on February 20, next year.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stood surety for Sonia, while Priyanka Vadra gave surety for her brother Rahul. A K Antony stood surety for Fernandes and Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ajay Maken for the other accused. Sam Pitroda, yet another accused, was granted exemption from personal appearance today on medical grounds.
All the bigwigs of the Congress party and thousands of ordinary workers descended at the party headquarters 24 Akbar Road in a massive show of solidarity with the leaders who have cried ‘political vendetta’ right from the moment the Delhi High Court rejected their plea to quash the case and asked them to appear before the court.
In their brief yet aggressive speeches after the bail – all the three leaders – the Gandhis and former prime minister Manmohan Singh ‘vowed to continue the fight”. Said Sonia: “Today we had appeared before the court with a clean conscience. We did what any law-abiding citizen should do. The law of the nation applies to everyone without any discrimination. I have no doubt that the truth will come out. The present government is deliberately targeting the opposition and making full use of the state agencies to do so. Nobody is going to be scared from it. We will continue our fight.”
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said: “Modiji levels false allegations and thinks that the Opposition will bow down, I and Congress party will not succumb.” Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the Congress is united in support of Sonia and Rahul. He added: “We will fight. We will give a determined fight. Congress was a party that stood for certain values and it will not compromise on them.”
The tone and tenor of the political battle was set even before the Gandhis made their brief appearance amidst tight security at the Patiala House courts. At a joint media briefing a host of party leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma and Randeep Singh Surjewala, launched a full fledged attack on the NDA government, particularly Modi. “The BJP government is resorting to unprecedented level of vendetta politics. The country has never seen this kind of politics. We will fight out the battle,” said Azad, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Calling Swamy a “mask” for Modi, he said the BJP functionary has been awarded with a bungalow for dragging Congress leadership to court even though he was not a Parliamentarian or government official. “He (Swamy) has been placed under Z-category and allotted a government bungalow. He is not a member of the Parliament nor from a border state. He is not facing any threat from any terrorist organisation….The bungalow was given as an award for dragging the Congress leadership to court,” charged Azad. He said the country has seen “unprecedented level” of vendetta politics since BJP came to power at the Centre and cited CBI raid against Himachal Chief Minister, “conspiracy” to bring down Congress government in Arunachal and raid at the Delhi Secretariat.
BJP REBUTS CHARGE :
The BJP hit out at the Congress leadership in the National Herald case today, saying, “Congress and corruption are made for each other.” Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “Even in the opposition they continue to be kings of corruption and poor governance.” “By Congress-free India, we mean corruption-free India. Congress and corruption are made for each other,” Naqvi said in response. “They made it sound like they were not accused in a case but freedom fighters,” he said.
Calling the National Herald case, a scam, Naqvi said, “The National Herald scam has reached the top of your leadership, what does the BJP or the government have to do with it?” He said the summons (in response to which the Gandhis appeared in court) were issued by the court and the government had nothing to do with it. “They stalled Parliament once they got the summons. These disruptions and protests will boomerang for the Congress…When the legal process is on you stand outside and cry political vendetta, it means something is amiss. Their arrogance will hurt them,” Naqvi said in a sharp attack. Reacting to allegations that the BJP-led government had rewarded the complainant in the case Subramanian Swamy with a government house,Naqvi countered: “Who gave Robert Vadra a government bungalow? Is Robert Vadra an MP? Congress should realise that dozens of people get government accommodation because of security reasons. This included Priyanka Gandhi who was member of neither house of Parliament.”
