Stop ‘vindictive action’ against Sonia and Rahul in National Herald case, Chidambaram urges Union government

Veteran Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Sunday urged the Union government to stop “vindictive action” against party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in connection with the National Herald case, following Special judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Court rejecting the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) money laundering complaint.

Addressing journalists at Satyamurthy Bhavan, headquarters of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC), in Chennai, the former Union Finance Minister also termed the Centre’s move to repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and replace it with a new Bill as the “second killing of Mahatma Gandhi” and said his party would protest till the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill was withdrawn. [President Droupadi Murmu had on Sunday granted assent to the Bill.]

On the National Herald case, Mr. Chidambaram said it was a fabricated and politically motivated charge. He alleged the ED was engaged in illegal action and no First Information Report (FIR) had been filed in the case. “There was no money transaction involved, how can anyone claim it is legal or illegal,” Mr. Chidambaram said. He contended that there was no information yet on whether the Union government had moved an appeal and if they proceeded with an appeal, it showed their lack of wisdom and they have not learnt their lessons. “We have strong arguments to put forth,” he said.

VB-G RAM G Bill

On the VB-G RAM G Bill, Mr. Chidambaram said the name of the Bill was neither in proper English nor Indian, but merely Hindi words written in English letters, which even Ministers found difficult to understand.

“The new unofficial official language of the Central government appears to be Hindi words written in English letters. People who only know Hindi cannot read the script, while English speaking people cannot understand the meaning,” Mr. Chidambaram said in a post on X.

Mr. Chidambaram said while the MNREGA, a 100-days-a-year wage employment guarantee scheme, acted as an lifeline for 12 crore families, especially women, to ensure that the household did not go to bed hungry and dejected, the new Bill snatches away the benefits.

He said in the proposed scheme, the Centre would make a ‘normative allocation’ of funds to each State, the expenditure in excess of the allocation would be borne by the State, and the areas where the Scheme would be implemented would be notified by the Cente, thereby making it a supply-driven scheme. “The proposed Bill contains several serious flaws. It is no longer an employment guarantee scheme. There is no guarantee at all, and the ones who will suffer the most are the poor,” he contended.

On the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, Mr. Chidambaram pointed out that about 66 lakh electors in the State and 35 lakh in Chennai have been listed without valid addresses, and this was surprising. “Even the AIADMK is supporting this, while parties such as the Congress and the DMK have called for rectification,” he added.