Modi, Shah must resign, vendetta politics exposed: Congress after relief in National Herald case

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation after a Delhi court refused to take cognisance of the ED's money laundering charge against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.

The opposition party also vowed to expose the "vendetta politics" against its leadership, asserting that the Congress cadres are agitated and are going to show their strength against this "misuse of agencies" by the government to target opposition leaders.

"We are fighting politically. We will keep fighting them, both inside and outside Parliament, and also on the streets and will teach them a lesson," party president Mallikarjun Kharge said at a press conference.

In a relief to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and five others, a Delhi court on Tuesday refused to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate's money laundering charge against them in the National Herald case, holding that the agency's probe stemmed from a private complaint and not an FIR.

"I want to say that after this judgement Modi and Shah should resign because the court decision is like a slap on their face. They should give resignation as they should not harass people like this," Kharge said at the press conference, which he addressed with party leaders K C Venugopal, Abhishek Singhvi, Jairam Ramesh, and Pawan Khera "They should know that if they do such things people will not tolerate it and will not sit quiet, and they will face insult from people," he said.

Kharge said the Congress has been fighting the issue politically by taking out marches since its top leadership was summoned by the probe agencies.

"We have been fighting on the streets, in Parliament, outside it, and will continue to do it and teach them a lesson," he said, while welcoming the court verdict and thanking party workers.

He also said that for over past 11 years, there have been more than 50 such key opposition leaders whom the Modi government has made full efforts to intimidate and blackmail by misusing the ED, CBI, and IT.

Kharge claimed the National Herald newspaper was started in 1938 and its motto is "Freedom is in Peril, Defend it with All Your Might." The December 16 court ruling has completely exposed the false allegations, conspiracy, and vengeful intent levelled by the Modi government against the leaders of his party, he said.

Venugopal asserted that the Congress will expose the "vendetta politics" of the Modi government.

The entire Congress cadre is agitated and will show its strength all over India against the "misuse of agencies," he said.

"We will expose this vendetta politics on the streets of the country. The entire nation is now agitating. For the past seven years, the Congress party has faced continuous harassment by the ED. Our senior and supreme leadership is being targeted through vendetta politics, and this has agitated every karyakarta.

"We will demonstrate our strength across India. Because this is clearly an example of how ED is systematically misused by the central government to target the opposition leaders," Venugopal said, when asked about the party's further action in the matter.

Singhvi said the law has spoken louder than noise, and termed the National Herald case a story of political vendetta and harassment.

"Today, the law has spoken louder than noise and fiction. They made a money-laundering mansion on the quicksand of an absent, elusive FIR. There is no FIR. Investigative overreach has met judicial oversight. Courts are not theatres for political scripts.

"Events that had happened much before 2014 led to a private complaint by Subramanian Swamy-with a summoning order in 2014. From 2014 to 2021 - seven long years - there are written opinions sought and given by CBI and ED, mentioning that no predicate offence was made out. Obviously, that's why after 2014, they never filed an official complaint," he noted.

Suddenly, he said, a few days before June 30, 2021, "Command comes from the skies - which you can guess where it came from - to register an ECIR." From 2021 to 2025, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and many others, have been interrogated for almost 90 hours, "only to harass them, and to embarrass them, and to create a climate against them," Singhvi said.

The party leader said that on October 3, 2025, a new FIR came because "they" want to keep the pot boiling.

"Today's order is a reminder that criminal law is not a political press release. You cannot weaponise the PMLA and then plead ignorance of a condition of the law itself. This case has always been long on rhetoric and short on legs.

"This is the first one-trick wonder of its kind in PMLA, where they say there is allegedly money laundering, but not one paisa has moved an inch, nor has one property moved one foot," Singhvi said.

Delivering his order in a case that has been marked by a political slugfest and legal battles for several years, Special Judge Vishal Gogne said the cognisance of the ED's prosecution complaint relating to the offence of money laundering was "impermissible in law." The ED complaint was based on an investigation into a complaint by a private person, Subramanian Swamy, and not on an FIR of a predicate offence, the judge said. PTI SKC ASK VN VN