Jammu, Apr 01: The Congress Party on Monday held a strong protest demonstration against the Central government over the seizure of the party’s accounts by the IT Department. It urged the President of India to intervene to save the “onslaught” on democracy.
The memorandum to the President of India, urging her intervention to save democracy, was submitted by the Congress through the District Magistrate Jammu on behalf of the party.
AICC Incharge, Bharatsinh Solanki led the protest in which Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President, Vikar Rasool Wani, AICC Joint Secretary, Manoj Yadav and Working President, Raman Bhalla along with other leaders were also present.
Raising slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “misusing” agencies, the Congress leaders attacked the BJP for financially crippling the grand old party by the illegal and arbitrary seizure of its account.
The protest was held near the PCC headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk and the protesters later tried to move towards the IT Department. They were, however, stopped by the police which resulted in a scuffle.
Police placed barbed wires to stop the march of protesters towards the IT Department. The protestors were carrying placards against the BJP government and the IT Department for “illegal” action and termed it as a fear of the ruling party out of frustration of losing the elections.
Talking to media persons, Solanki attacked the BJP and Modi government for indulging in the “arbitrary, illegal and vindictive” action against the principal opposition party in the country.
He said the top opposition leaders have been arrested or “threatened” by the ED action in the midst of general elections. “This shows the utter frustration of the Modi government, and the BJP is seeing the writing on the wall after its failures on all fronts,” he added.
JKPCC President Vikar Rasool Wani also hit out at the BJP for its “vindictive” actions against the Congress Party and the entire opposition.
“Already the IT department has illegally and forcibly taken away Rs 135 crores from the accounts of the Congress Party for a delay in filing returns of Rs 14.49 lakh donated by MPs/MLAs of the party. The BJP has collected huge funds through the electoral bond scheme for itself and is now trying to eliminate the other opposition from effective election campaigns, which is very dangerous for the existence of democracy,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of the protest, Congress leaders blamed the BJP for vitiating the political atmosphere in the country for the “lust for power”. They said Congress is strong enough to defeat the “war against democracy”, adding, “The BJP government has deputed the agencies to strangulate the strong and genuine voices, but that will not stop its defeat in the elections.”
They further said that freezing accounts and imposing huge taxes won’t deter Congress from fighting and campaigning against the BJP’s wrong policies. “BJP could not digest the strength and popularity Congress Party is enjoying given the people’s love and affection, with the result, it is desperate enough while having realised that the day is not far when the party will be out of power,” they said.
