Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Hasan Mushrif with NCP chief Sharad Pawar. (Twitter/@mrhasanmushrif) Following Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids on former minister Hasan Mushrif, the NCP on Wednesday said Muslims leaders were being targeted despite the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) saying that the community has “nothing to fear”.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) said the raids highlight the way the government is misusing the investigating agencies to target Opposition leaders.
“RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, in an interview, recently said that Muslims have nothing to fear in India and barely within 24 hours of his statement, the home of a prominent Muslim leader and former minister of the NCP is raided by ED in Pune and Kolhapur,” said Mahesh Tapase, chief spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), in an official statement.
NCP Parliamentarian Supriya Sule said “90 to 95 per cent ED raids in the country” are conducted on leaders from Opposition parties. “In Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis himself said that they have an ‘ED Sarkar’ at the helm. ‘ED Sarkar’ means ‘Eknath (Shinde) and Devendra Sarkar,” Sule said.
Tapase said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been constantly using Central government agencies against leaders of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in a bid to weaken the alliance and to woo the leaders into the saffron party’s fold.
“Is it not ironical that some leaders of the BJP make press statements about future ED raids and voila, it so happens…just like that!” said the NCP spokesperson.
Sule said instead of targeting Opposition leaders, the government should focus on tackling issues like unemployment and inflation. “The people of the state will benefit and sing praises of the government,” she added.
Said Tapase: “What happened to all the allegations against MLAs and MPs who are now part of the Shinde-Fadanvis government? BJP had alleged corruption by these leaders. Has the ED/I-T (Income Tax department) closed their investigation and given them acquittal as nobody in the BJP seems to talk about it any more, or is it a matter of quid pro quo,” he asked.
Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, “Earlier, Anil Deshmukh, Nawab Malik and myself were targeted by the government…All this reflects the misuse of power and attempts to muzzle the voices of the Opposition leaders.”