Court order in National Herald case exposes BJP vendetta: Cong

The Congress on Tuesday said the court’s decision in the National Herald case was a vindication of its stand and a strong rebuke to what it described as a politically motivated campaign by the BJP-led Union government against the party’s top leadership.

Addressing a press conference after the order, Congress chairperson of media and publicity Pawan Khera, accompanied by AICC legal department secretary Mohd Khan, said the complaint was conspiratorial in nature and born out of political vendetta allegedly driven by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Khera said the case against Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was blatantly political and reflected the BJP’s frustration over the Congress consistently exposing the government’s failures over the past 11 years.

He alleged that as the Opposition raised issues such as “vote chori”, the BJP and its agencies had resorted to selective prosecutions and recycled allegations to keep political opponents under pressure.

“When facts ran thin, theatrics stepped in. The attempt was to keep political opponents perpetually in the dock,” Khera said, adding that the judiciary had delivered a decisive rebuke to what he termed the BJP’s “politics of persecution”.

He further alleged that Central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, the CBI and the Income Tax Department, had been repeatedly used to target the Gandhi family, but asserted that the Congress leadership would not bow down. Referring to the questioning in the case, Khera described the 50-hour examination over five consecutive days as a “state-sponsored political witch-hunt” that the party confronted head-on.

Reacting to the verdict, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the court order had exposed the illegality of the Modi government’s actions and foiled a conspiracy driven by political revenge. “When false allegations were levelled to defame the National Herald, the Congress and our leaders, I had said the same thing then too — that if we didn’t fear the British, what are these BJP-RSS or Modi-Shah worth?” Kharge said in a post on X.

He said the Congress would continue its fight to protect democracy and the Constitution. “No matter how much force this ‘vote-stealing government’ employs to crush democracy, we will continue our fight for 1.4 billion Indians and to save this Constitution. The victory of truth is certain,” Kharge said.

Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal also welcomed the court’s decision, saying it had once again exposed the “bogus” nature of the National Herald case.

“Time and time again, the BJP-controlled ED has tried its best to frame the Congress leadership in the totally bogus National Herald case. Today’s verdict of the court declaring that the entire case is without jurisdiction, without FIR, and as such without basis, proves that this was purely driven by political vendetta,” Venugopal said in a post.

Calling the verdict a “tight slap” on those seeking to besmirch Sonia and Rahul, Venugopal said the order should serve as a clear message to vendetta-driven investigation agencies.

He said the Congress and its leadership would remain at the forefront of resisting what he described as the present regime’s assault on democracy and the Constitution. “We are prepared for all challenges thrown at us, and we know that in the end, the truth alone triumphs,” he said.