Sanjay Raut hits out at central agencies for ‘unwarranted harassment’ of elected representatives

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday came down heavily on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) saying the people were not afraid of the tyrannical rule of the British in the pre-independence period but today the rich politicians and industrialists are afraid of central agencies.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Raut said, should strongly present the issue of “unwarranted harassment” of elected representatives by the central agencies.

Referring to the ED searches at former home minister Anil Deshmukh’s residence, the Sena leader said the ED acted as if Deshmukh was a “bandit” in the Chambal Valley. This is a direct attack on the autonomy of Maharashtra, he added.

“In the pre-independence era, the people did not fear the tyrannical rule of the British. Today, rich politicians and industrialists are afraid of the central investigative agencies, like the ED and the CBI in independent India. These agencies are being used by the ruling party to put pressure on the opposition,” Raut said in his weekly column in ‘Saamana’.

Raut said Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik has filed a petition in the high court stating that ED asked questions on political issues which were not related to the original case and this is an attempt to put pressure.

“If this is what Sarnaik and many like him have to say, then the Chief Minister of Maharashtra must present the issue of the elected representatives strongly before the PM,” Raut added.

The Sena MP added that Union Minister Amit Shah may understand the troubles of MLAs as Shah himself had gone through such harassment. “At one point, Amit Shah himself has gone through this unnecessary harassment. So, he should be able to understand the grief of MLAs and MPs,” Raut said, adding that soon after the Modi government came to power at the Centre, all the unnecessary troubles of Amit Shah stopped. All the cases were dismissed, he added.

The agencies like the ED and CBI, the Sena MP emphasised, are supposed to work impartially and independently, but it all changed since 1975 (Emergency). “It seems that everything got finished the day the apex court made the remark that the CBI is a ‘government parrot’,” Raut said.