Not mother of democracy, ‘father of dictatorship’: Sibal slams govt

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday accused the government of using probe agencies to “paralyse” the Congress and described the development of the Enforcement Directorate issuing notices to take possession of immovable assets in the National Herald case as an “assault on democracy”.

“In lip service, we are the mother of democracy but in reality you are the father of dictatorship. They (BJP) want to do their politics on Hindu-Muslim agenda and finish off the Opposition,” Sibal said in a press conference.

His remarks come a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated it has served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore that it had attached as part of a money

laundering probe linked to Congress-controlled National Herald newspaper and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

Simultaneously, the notices have been affixed at “conspicuous part of these properties” located at Herald House at ITO (5A, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg) in Delhi, in the Bandra(E) area (Plot No 2, Survey No 341) of Mumbai and the AJL building located at Bisheshwar Nath Road (Property No.1) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on Friday.

The notices primarily seek vacation of the premises to be taken over by the ED.

Speaking on the issue, Sibal said, “The possession notice is aimed at taking over these properties of the newspaper in which Congress offices are running to paralyse the party.”

“What is the offense? Why have you waited for 13 years? Why? Because you want to grab the property. You want to paralyse the Congress party, take possession of all the properties so that they cannot function. The properties are spread across the country and are worth 600 crore that is what they allege, so they take them over, paralyse the Congress so that it has no office to operate from,” the senior advocate and Independent Rajya Sabha MP said.

“From what I know is the Congress does not have much money so it will not be able to function as a political party. This is an assault on democracy. This is an assault on what we as a republic stand for. This is an unfortunate event that is reflective of the mindset of this government,” he added.

Sibal said it reflects the pettiness of a government that uses agencies to destroy the Opposition.