Delhi chief arrested as opposition party alleges ‘huge conspiracy’ ahead of Indian election
News Delhi chief arrested as opposition party alleges ‘huge conspiracy’ ahead of Indian election
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I wanted to copy-paste the whole article but I thought someone may beat me to it. Glad that I was the one to break this news on this forum.
Honestly, I don't Like this.
Using Power to Intimidate your political rivals is just a scummy tactic.
I don't Know what Amit shah & Modi is thinking.
Using Power to Intimidate your political rivals is just a scummy tactic.
I don't Know what Amit shah & Modi is thinking.
Congress party accuses government of account freezing before India election
The main opposition party says Modi government has ‘crippled’ it before the upcoming election by freezing bank accounts in an income tax case.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing supporters in Karnal, Haryana state [File photo/Courtesy: AICC]
21 Mar 2024
The Congress party, India’s main opposition political group, has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of stifling democracy and “crippling” the party by freezing its bank accounts in a tax dispute ahead of the general election.
India will hold a six-week election starting next month, with the Congress-led alliance pitted against Modi’s heavily funded Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday told reporters in New Delhi the party is unable to campaign properly with its accounts frozen by the income tax department.
“Our entire financial identity has been erased,” said Gandhi, 53, the scion of the family that dominated Indian politics for decades after independence.
“We have no money to campaign, we cannot support our candidates. Our ability to fight elections has been damaged.”
A portion of the Congress’s bank accounts were frozen last month pending a tax case that dates back to 2018-19. Earlier this month, a tax tribunal dismissed its appeal to pause the recovery of 1.35bn rupees ($16.32m) in income tax from its bank accounts.
Congress treasurer Ajay Maken said in a statement that tax authorities imposed a 2.1bn rupee ($25m) lien on February 13, “virtually sealed” its bank accounts, and then confiscated 1.1bn rupees ($14m).
The Congress claims the tax department’s sanctions are politically motivated, to hobble it from mounting a challenge to Modi’s BJP.
“Last week, we received another notice from the tax authorities that dates back to our filings from 1995-96,” Gandhi said. “This is a criminal action on the Congress party done by the prime minister and the home minister. The idea that India is a democracy is a lie. There is no democracy in India today.”
Earlier on Thursday, his mother and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi also made a rare public appearance, saying the tax penalty was “part of the systemic efforts to cripple” the party.
The BJP rejected the allegations, saying the Congress’s bank accounts were partially frozen because it had failed to file an income tax return for cash donations it received in 2017-18 and had therefore lost the tax exemption available to political parties.
BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda said the Congress was making the accusations against Indian democracy and institutions because it feared an “historic defeat” in the election.
India’s Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the Congress party’s complaint early next month after it was rejected by tax appeal authorities, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters.
According to the latest official financial disclosures to the Election Commission of India, the BJP’s funds are nearly 10 times that of Congress. The gulf dramatically widened after Modi’s government introduced contentious electoral bonds in 2017, allowing unlimited anonymous donations.
Last month, the Supreme Court outlawed the scheme as unconstitutional and asked for donor and receiver details to be made public. Released details showed the BJP was by far the single largest beneficiary, with just under half of all donations, totalling about $730m.
Voting in India, the world’s largest democracy, will stretch over seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with different states voting at different times. Results are to be announced on June 4.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the lack of funds had made the party “helpless” ahead of the election.
“There is no level playing field,” he said.
India’s Congress party accuses government of freezing accounts before polls
Party says Modi government has 'crippled' it before upcoming election by freezing bank accounts in an income tax case.
This is just not right, if it's true.Congress party accuses government of account freezing before India election
The main opposition party says Modi government has ‘crippled’ it before the upcoming election by freezing bank accounts in an income tax case.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing supporters in Karnal, Haryana state [File photo/Courtesy: AICC]
21 Mar 2024
The Congress party, India’s main opposition political group, has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of stifling democracy and “crippling” the party by freezing its bank accounts in a tax dispute ahead of the general election.
India will hold a six-week election starting next month, with the Congress-led alliance pitted against Modi’s heavily funded Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday told reporters in New Delhi the party is unable to campaign properly with its accounts frozen by the income tax department.
“Our entire financial identity has been erased,” said Gandhi, 53, the scion of the family that dominated Indian politics for decades after independence.
“We have no money to campaign, we cannot support our candidates. Our ability to fight elections has been damaged.”
A portion of the Congress’s bank accounts were frozen last month pending a tax case that dates back to 2018-19. Earlier this month, a tax tribunal dismissed its appeal to pause the recovery of 1.35bn rupees ($16.32m) in income tax from its bank accounts.
Congress treasurer Ajay Maken said in a statement that tax authorities imposed a 2.1bn rupee ($25m) lien on February 13, “virtually sealed” its bank accounts, and then confiscated 1.1bn rupees ($14m).
The Congress claims the tax department’s sanctions are politically motivated, to hobble it from mounting a challenge to Modi’s BJP.
“Last week, we received another notice from the tax authorities that dates back to our filings from 1995-96,” Gandhi said. “This is a criminal action on the Congress party done by the prime minister and the home minister. The idea that India is a democracy is a lie. There is no democracy in India today.”
Earlier on Thursday, his mother and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi also made a rare public appearance, saying the tax penalty was “part of the systemic efforts to cripple” the party.
The BJP rejected the allegations, saying the Congress’s bank accounts were partially frozen because it had failed to file an income tax return for cash donations it received in 2017-18 and had therefore lost the tax exemption available to political parties.
BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda said the Congress was making the accusations against Indian democracy and institutions because it feared an “historic defeat” in the election.
India’s Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the Congress party’s complaint early next month after it was rejected by tax appeal authorities, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters.
According to the latest official financial disclosures to the Election Commission of India, the BJP’s funds are nearly 10 times that of Congress. The gulf dramatically widened after Modi’s government introduced contentious electoral bonds in 2017, allowing unlimited anonymous donations.
Last month, the Supreme Court outlawed the scheme as unconstitutional and asked for donor and receiver details to be made public. Released details showed the BJP was by far the single largest beneficiary, with just under half of all donations, totalling about $730m.
Voting in India, the world’s largest democracy, will stretch over seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with different states voting at different times. Results are to be announced on June 4.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the lack of funds had made the party “helpless” ahead of the election.
“There is no level playing field,” he said.
India’s Congress party accuses government of freezing accounts before polls
Party says Modi government has 'crippled' it before upcoming election by freezing bank accounts in an income tax case.www.aljazeera.com
How in the hell both Modi & Amit Shah is not confident in their victory that they are resorting to Such tactics?
I would have posted a rebuttal but we are not allowed to post anything on this forum..
Just copy-paste articles.
@Guynextdoor
CPI(M), Congress Stage Protest In Kerala Against Arrest Of Delhi CM Kejriwal
PTI | Mar 22, 2024, 16:00 IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala on Friday witnessed widespread protests by activists of the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition Congress against the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal by the ED, while the BJP defended the action by saying violation of the law has its consequences.
Slamming the BJP-led Centre for targeting the opposition party leaders, the CPI(M) held a protest march in Kannur and party workers burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The DYFI, the youth wing of the ruling CPI(M) and the Congress party also took out a protest march to the Raj Bhavan in the state capital against the arrest. Shortly after the arrest of Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged excise policy-linked money laundering case, the DYFI had staged a massive demonstration in the state capital late Thursday night.
In protest against the arrest of their leader, workers of the Aam Aadmi Party also took out a protest march to the BJP office in Ernakulam district. Addressing a press conference, senior Congress leader V D Satheesan told the media that the arrest was because the NDA camp was rattled by the strength of the INDIA alliance.
Accusing the central government of targeting opposition parties ahead of Lok Sabha polls, he said the funds of the Congress party have been frozen. Targetting the BJP over the electoral bond issue, he alleged that the saffron party's misuse of the central agencies and their corruption were evident through the electoral bond scam.
Taking strong exception to the arrest of the AAP leader, Thiruvananthapuram MP and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the timing of the arrest shows that the BJP has utter disregard for the democratic process. He expressed hope that the Supreme Court would take action on its own against the arrest of the Delhi CM when the model code of conduct was in place.
"I urge the people of the country not to allow those who have utter disregard for the democratic process to come back to power. The people need to strongly oppose such acts to protect our democracy. Whatever happened cannot be justified," he said.
Addressing the media, CPI(M) leader M A Baby said the arrest of Kejriwal shows the BJP government's blatant authoritarianism. "Now the BJP and Modi have another name, Washing machine. Whatever the corruption you commit, you will be able to come out clean through the washing machine of the BJP," he said. Hitting out at the BJP, the left party's Politburo member said Modi does not have the courage to face the elections. DYFI national president and Rajya Sabha MP, A A Rahim strongly condemned the arrest and said it will protest against the "fascist rule" of the BJP government.
"The electoral bond scam is one of the biggest in the world and we can now see that the BJP is trying to divert attention from that by manufacturing other news," Rahim said. However, the BJP leaders in Kerala backed the arrest by the central agency and said it was due process of law. BJP state chief K Surendran asked Satheesan whether he would protest if the central agencies were arresting the Kerala CM and his family.
"We would like to know whether the Congress, which is protesting against the arrest of Kerjriwal, will agitate if any action is taken against the Kerala CM and his family?" Surendran asked.
The BJP leader claimed that the same Congress leaders used to ask why the central agencies were not taking any action in Kerala. "Congress leader Ajay Maken used to ask the same question in Delhi. But now, after the arrest of Kejriwal, they are protesting. This shows the double standards of the Congress party," Surendran said.
Meanwhile, Thiruvananthapuram NDA candidate and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said if anyone violates the law, there will be consequences. "Kejriwal ignored the ED notice, and now he has been arrested. If anyone violates the law, there will be consequences, be it Kejriwal or any other leader," he said.
Kerala CM Vijayan had denounced the arrest of Kejriwal, alleging that it was a deliberate move aimed at quelling dissenting voices, particularly as the electoral process gains momentum.
CPI(M), Congress stage protest in Kerala against arrest of Delhi CM Kejriwal | India News - Times of India
India News: Protests in Kerala against Arvind Kejriwal's ED arrest. CPI(M) and Congress demonstrate, BJP defends. CPI(M) burns PM effigy. DYFI protests at Raj Bha
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
"Blatant Interference": India Protests Germany's Remarks On Arvind Kejriwal
"Law will take its own course in the instant matter. Biased assumptions made on this account are most unwarranted," India said on Germany's remarks.
New Delhi: India today lodged a protest over Germany's remarks on the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi liquor policy case. The Ministry of External Affairs said that German foreign ministry spokesperson's remarks were a "blatant interference in India's internal matters".
The Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy, George Enzweiler, was today called by the MEA today to lodge an official protest. Mr Enzweiler was seen leaving the Ministry of External Affairs office in the national capital's South Block today morning.
"We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary," MEA said in a statement after the meeting.
"India is a vibrant and robust democracy with rule of law. As in all legal cases in the country, and elsewhere in the democratic world, law will take its own course in the instant matter. Biased assumptions made on this account are most unwarranted," it added.
The complaint comes hours after the German Foreign Ministry said they expected Mr Kejriwal to get a fair and impartial trial as India is a democratic nation.
"We have taken note, India is a democratic country. We assume and expect that the standards relating to independence of Judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case. Like anyone facing accusations, Mr Kejriwal is entitled to a fair and impartial trial, this includes he can make use of all available legal avenues without restrictions. The presumption of innocence is a central element of the rule of law and must apply to him," the spokesperson of the German Foreign Ministry said earlier.
Mr Kejriwal has been arrested in the Delhi liquor policy scam case; the central agency has accused the AAP leader of being a "conspirator". The ED believes the now-scrapped policy provided an impossibly high profit margin of nearly 185 per cent for retailers and 12 per cent for wholesalers.
A local court on Friday remanded Kejriwal in ED custody till March 28 "for his detailed and sustained interrogation" regarding his role in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
The ED's case is that the Delhi liquor policy 2021-22 provided an exceptionally high-profit margin of 12 per cent for wholesalers and nearly 185 per cent for retailers. A key focus of the investigation into the Delhi liquor policy case was on an alleged network of middlemen, businessmen and politicians which the central agencies have called the "South Group".
"Blatant Interference": India Protests Germany's Remarks On Arvind Kejriwal
India today lodged a protest over Germany's remarks on the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi liquor policy case. The Ministry of External Affairs said the remarks were a "blatant interference in India's internal matters".
www.ndtv.com
Congress leader says party supports Kejriwal but he must resign because...
By HT News Desk
Mar 23, 2024 03:12 PM IST
While Congress extended support to Arvind Kejriwal, senior leader Sanjay Nirupam said Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned over a train accident.
The night Enforcement Directorate arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal from his residence over Delhi liquor policy, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit was one of the first political leaders to have reached outside Kejriwal's house at Civil Lines. All top Congress leaders condemned Kejriwal's arrest while a joint delegation from the INDIA bloc met chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar against the Centre's 'misuse' of central agencies. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi is Kejriwal's counsel as well. Despite the party's stand and support to Kejriwal at the time of the 'biggest crisis of his life', Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said Kejriwal should resign on morality grounds.
Sanjay Nirupam said if Kejriwal clings to the CM post, the 11-year-old AAP will set a dangerous precedence in Indian politics.
In a long X post, the Maharashtra Congress leader said when LK Advani, Madhavrao Scindia and Kamal Nath's name came up in some corruption, they resigned from their posts. Lal Bahadur Shashtri resigned over a train accident, Sanjay Nirupam recounted adding that India has such a rich tradition. He also mentioned Hemant Soren's resignation moments before he was arrested in January this year.
"The court will decide the truth of Delhi's liquor scam. But a chief minister has been accused and arrested but he is still clinging to the post. What kind of morality is this? A party which is just 11 years old is setting a precedence that is unethical," Sanjay Nirupam wrote.
Arvind Kejriwal became the first chief minister of India to be arrested in a corruption case. His arrest has led to a major political slugfest and uncertainties over the governance in the national capital. Aam Aadmi Party affirmed that Kejriwal will remain the chief minister as Delhi's public -- in a campaign conducted a few months before his arrest -- were in favour of Kejriwal running the government from jail.
Kejriwal is being probed for his role in an excise policy which landed AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh in jail. The Enforcement Directorate said Kejriwal was the kingpin of the scam and received crores as a kickback to give undue favour to liquor companies in Delhi.
Congress leader says party supports Kejriwal but he must resign because...
While Congress extended support to Arvind Kejriwal, senior leader Sanjay Nirupam said Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned over a train accident.
Why put it all on the Govt? Remember, Kejriwal had evaded multiple summonses before they registered a case against him under CrPC. At that point if you don't take out an arrest warrant, you have to be pretty much saying that a sitting CM can treat your summonses differently than the average citizen. You can't have that.
Kejriwal wanted himself to be arrested much more than the Govt wanted to take him in. It's he who benefits from any possible sympathy factor.
When has arresting your opponent ever worked out in your favour in Indian politics? That too when you are pretty much assured of victory?
There's more to this than meets the eye.
For BJP, Kejriwal is an idea whose time has come to be destroyed
The ‘idea’ Kejriwal's politics grew around was a no-holds-barred fight against corruption. That is the reason Modi govt has now tarred him and his entire party with the same paint.
SHEKHAR GUPTA
23 March, 2024 08:30 am IST
In her first response on the arrest of her chief minister and party leader, Atishi, a key minister in the Delhi government, said that Arvind Kejriwal isn’t merely an individual. He is, instead, an idea.
It follows that she means his arrest, or temporary removal from the scene, won’t mean a crippling blow to his politics, party or government.
That’s a good and interesting point. Let us take it at face value to begin with. We will know in the next few days what it means for his party and the two governments it runs, in Delhi and Punjab. The more important discussion, however, is about the implications this will have for national politics.
Theoretically, if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is able to withstand this blow and persevere till Kejriwal is eventually released, it could emerge stronger. Kejriwal could then return as a leader with his charisma burnished by time spent in the BJP’s prison.
If your basic credibility remains intact, and if your ‘base’ is immune to corruption charges against you, some time in a rival government’s jail never hurt an Indian politician. On the other hand, if your government flounders in your absence, your party lapses into disarray and is crippled further by defections — which the BJP will be working quite assiduously to bring about — it will send your politics into terminal decline. That’s the juncture at which the party now stands.
If Kejriwal is today an idea, the ‘idea’ he and his politics grew around was a no-holds-barred fight against corruption. That is the reason the Modi government has now tarred him and his entire party and government with the same brush: corruption.
It isn’t the individuals they are after. It is the idea once synonymous with Kejriwal. That everybody in public life and debate — politicians, corporates, media, judges, everybody — is corrupt and complicit. Or, as the India Against Corruption (IAC) war cries went: sab chor hain (everybody is a thief) and sab mile hue hain (they are all complicit). It followed that the only one truly fighting them all was Kejriwal.
That’s how he became an idea, which the Modi government now wants to destroy with corruption charges: “Look, look now, who has been talking all these years.”
Over the past decade, the BJP witnessed that idea of Kejriwal gain ground. It won Punjab and got some votes in Goa, but more importantly, won five seats even in Gujarat.
It polled about 13 percent of the vote in the Modi-Shah BJP’s pocket borough, showed some growth in municipal elections and set alarm bells ringing. This BJP may run its politics on the grievances of the past, but it doesn’t fight today’s battles today. Like any true superpower, it fights the day after tomorrow’s battles today, and ideally far from its own territory. The 2022 state elections showed AAP growing in the most valued part of the BJP’s territory, its heartland of heartlands. That is when the die was cast and AAP was marked out as the rival of the day after tomorrow, to be finished now.
If the BJP succeeds and the idea of Kejriwal now declines, it will reaffirm a larger trend in national politics. That all the efforts made by popular, powerful and ambitious leaders to expand their political geographies have failed.
Over the past three years, we have seen Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) invest time, energy and money in Goa, Tripura and Meghalaya in the hope of acquiring a national footprint, and fail.
If the TMC’s failure was spectacular, former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) replacing the T (Telangana) in his party’s name with B (Bharat) turned out to be a ridiculous disaster. None of the other state parties can even dream of growing beyond their ethnic boundaries. The Left, once the only other pan-state power, is grateful enough to hold on to just one state.
The AAP became the only party that succeeded in expanding its presence, and rose to be the only party in the country other than the BJP and the Congress to rule in more than one state. This is precisely why the BJP has decided to cut it to size. It is fighting a threat for a distant future today.
To understand the significance of the political shift caused by Kejriwal’s arrest, check out the political party to have risen to his and his party’s defence with the greatest alacrity. It is the Congress, the party Kejriwal and his 2010-14 campaign destroyed through its anti-corruption movement, routinely demanding the arrest of its topmost ministers.
Why, then, is the Congress the party most vocal and active in his defence, and not merrily rolling in schadenfreude? Two other factors matter besides the partial alliance in Delhi and Gujarat.
The first is that the Congress, like any other anti-BJP party, knows that what is happening to AAP today could happen to it tomorrow. Its chief ministers in Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh are watching this very closely. They are particularly interested in seeing what kind of fight their own party, especially its legal talent, is able to put up.
The second factor is that the Congress now knows that it is the only force — however weakened it might be — that stands between the BJP and India’s evolution into a single-party Republic. Because once it is out of the way, the BJP could sort out the other regional powers en passant: co-opting some, demolishing others. The Congress knows it will be its turn next.
The key takeaway is that the assault on AAP has made India a nation of two political forces, the BJP and the Congress. Never mind the power differential between them.
It is safe now to say that in the years to come, at least till 2029, the Congress will be the BJP’s only national rival, however weak it is. Despite its serial defeats, it retains (at least it did until 2019) its vote share of nearly 20 per cent. As long as one out of five Indians votes for you despite your many failings, waffling leadership and near-zero hope of victory and a return to power, you stay in the game. If that 20 percent even becomes 25, the game changes.
“Good point,” you might say if you were from the Congress, and even steal a moment to smile. Then the reality check. The first thing to do is to protect yourself from similar assaults from the BJP in the months to come. And for that, as the BJP is doing, fight your battles of the day after tomorrow today. That is why the Congress has risen so spiritedly to AAP’s defence. It is fighting for its own survival, to still be in the ring and up for a fight, with the inevitability of a two-party system in the country.
For BJP, Kejriwal is an idea whose time has come to be destroyed
The ‘idea’ Kejriwal's politics grew around was a no-holds-barred fight against corruption. That is the reason Modi govt has now tarred him and his entire party with the same paint.
theprint.in
What a joke! Kejriwal is no idea. He stole the idea from Anna Hazare's movement and used it to build a political platform for himself. He is a liar since the get go. He said "do not vote for me if I start a political party". He switched between state and national level politics so many times that is not even funny.
Kejriwal was and is always a power and money hungry person who stole a popular anti corruption movement. He is no idea widea. He is just a greedy idiot who got too much ahead of himself.
Kejriwal was and is always a power and money hungry person who stole a popular anti corruption movement. He is no idea widea. He is just a greedy idiot who got too much ahead of himself.
He was planted and nurtured by CIA to become another Zelensky. But Modi became the firewall. He has already done the damage by ensuring that every party is forced to give freebies in elections which will ruin the overall economy of India. AAP got to rule Punjab because of support from Khalistanis and guess who supports Khalistanis??? CIA and five eyes. They wanted a border state like punjab to be able to keep India in check thru Pakistan and That should make the game clear to everyone as to who Khujli bander is.
However bad Kejriwal be, he is better than Rahul and Sonia in matters of educational qualification, intelligence, integrity, leadership qualities and oratory.
Don't you agree, @RASALGHUL?
@Asterion Moloc @Rajput Lion @Parthu @Saaho @vstol Jockey
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Seriously? Even regional leaders like Akhilesh are better than him.
I am surprised that someone can have such an opinion also about him. He is a fraud and a disaster for India.
No. He is the most dangerous leader for our nation. Reasons are already explained by @vstol Jockey sir.
Regardless of whether the guy is bad or good, there should have been more slogan-shouting and crowd mobilisation by AAP, in protest against his arrest. It would have been hilarious entertainment.
@RASALGHUL @Asterion Moloc
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