Hours after the government initiated a probe into the funding of three Nehru-Gandhi family linked trusts including the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said those who fight for the truth cannot be intimidated.
"Mr Modi believes the world is like him. He thinks every one has a price or can be intimidated. He will never understand that those who fight for the truth have no price and cannot be intimidated," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.
Though the former Congress chief did not mention any inquiry, his remarks came after the government set up an inter-ministerial team to coordinate a probe into the alleged violation of various laws including the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) by three trusts associated with the Nehru-Gandhi family -- the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.
Meanwhile the Congress too slammed the government in a statement saying that The Indian National Congress and its leadership will not be intimidated by the cowardly acts and blind witch-hunt by a panicked Modi Government.
The wild and insidious hatred of the BJP of Congress leadership unfolds every day in an embarrassing and uglier fashion, the party said.
“Facing a barrage of questions on (i) blatant compromise of India’s security interests and territorial integrity, (ii) a shocking mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis which continues to devour lives and livelihood on a daily basis and (iii) unable to arrest the economic recession wreaking havoc on the life of every Indian citizen; a desperate Modi-Shah Government has fallen back on a devious hounding of those exposing its ineptitude by ordering a wholly vicious and vengeful investigation of the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust”, the statement read.
The Congress raised six questions relevant in the context and asked if the Modi government will answer them:
- Will the Modi Government hold an enquiry into the donations worth hundreds of crores received from Chinese entities into the PM-Cares fund?
- Will the Modi Government hold an enquiry into the donations and the amounts received by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (‘RSS’) from all sources including foreign sources, individuals, entities, organisations and governments?
- Will the Modi Government hold a similar enquiry, as the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, into the donations and the amounts received by the ‘Vivekananda Foundation’ and the ‘India Foundation’ (and other such foundations) from all sources including foreign sources, individuals, entities, organisations and governments?
- Will the Modi Government order an enquiry into the source of funding, amounts received, name of donors (including of Chinese origin) for “Overseas Friends of BJP” (‘OF-BJP’)? Will the investigation include an enquiry into the connection of Shri Rajkumar Naraindas Sabnani alias Raju Sabnani to ‘OF-BJP’?
- Will the Modi Government order an enquiry into nearly Rupees 7,000 crores received in donations through electoral bonds, its recipient political parties, including the BJP as also the existence of any quid-pro-quo thereof?
- Will the Modi Government order an enquiry into the nearly 500% increase in income and donations to the BJP from Rs. 570.86 Crores (in 2015-2016) to Rs. 2410 crores (in 2018-2019)?
The congress reaffirmed its determination “to hold the government accountable to the people of India and to speak for the deprived, the underprivileged and the downtrodden” and said that it will only “get strengthened by these desperate actions of a Government too petrified to answer its own people.”
The decision for initiating the probe was taken nearly a fortnight after the BJP said the RGF had received funds from the Chinese Embassy. The allegation came amidst the stand-off between the Indian Army and China's PLA in Ladakh and after the Congress constantly raised some questions regarding the same.
