National Herald was never personal property of Nehru family: BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad held a press conference on Wednesday, launching a scathing attack on Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi over the ongoing National Herald case.

Addressing the media, Prasad said, “The Congress Party is in a state of distress, claiming they have the right to protest across the country. While they certainly have the right to protest, they do not have the right to misappropriate public property given to the National Herald.

“Let me recall some important facts. The National Herald was established in 1937, and there were 5,000 shareholders who purchased shares.”

“It was never the personal property of the Nehru family, and it’s important to understand that many prominent freedom fighters and Congress leaders supported this initiative,” he added.

He went on to allege that the transfer of shares involving Rs 9 crore was merely a smokescreen.

“This transfer of Rs 9 crore was not a big deal. After the transfer of these shares, the Young India company, which was 76 per cent owned by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, acquired the entire property of Associated Journals Limited. This property includes assets in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Bhopal, and Patna, worth thousands of crores. It was claimed that Young India Limited was a non-profit organisation for charitable purposes, but they have not done any charitable work until today.”

Prasad clarified that the matter is under legal scrutiny.

“An investigation is being conducted, and after the investigation, charges are filed. The court has stated that the hearing will take place on April 25. So, what’s the issue here? Also, it should be noted that Sonia Ji and Rahul Gandhi are out on bail. They went to the High Court and Supreme Court to quash the entire procedure but did not receive any relief. The only concession granted was that they don’t have to appear personally in court, only through their lawyer,” Prasad said.

Digging into the historical context of National Herald, Prasad referred to senior Congress leaders who had earlier raised concerns.

“The story of the National Herald is quite powerful. Our research team was looking into it, and we found that Sardar Patel had expressed concern, saying it was not appropriate to take money from the common people who could ill-afford it. These were respected Congress leaders, and we have all the letters.

“Even Chandra Bhanu Gupta, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, had raised significant funds for this. He was a senior leader and said that this newspaper was meant to be the voice of the nation, but it ended up becoming the voice of Pandit Nehru and his family.”

“This is not something we are saying, it’s Congress leaders themselves, and all of it is on record,” he added.

Prasad also highlighted a significant advertisement expenditure following the share transfer.

“I have observed that after the transfer of shares to Young India, there was also an advertisement worth Rs 25–26 crore. The painful truth is that the newspaper, which was established to strengthen the voice of those fighting against British imperialism during the freedom struggle, has now been transformed into a private business,” he said.

The BJP demands answers and explanations from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, “Should the law not take action regarding the thousand crore worth of property you seized? Please respond,” Prasad said.

–IANS