New Delhi: After questioning Rahul Gandhi for over 50 hours last month, his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi was interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday (July 21) in an alleged money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper.
The 75-year-old leader was questioned for nearly three hours by the officials of the probe agency. Sonia Gandhi reached the headquarters of the investigating agency along with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Priyanka was allowed to stay in the ED headquarters so that she could be with her mother in case of any health issue. Notably, Sonia Gandhi is recovering from Covid-19. As the investigating agency questioned the Congress president, party leaders and workers staged protests in different parts of the country alleging vindictive politics by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
In a show of solidarity with Sonia Gandhi, party leaders and MPs courted mass arrest outside the party headquarter in the national capital. Refuting the allegations, the ruling BJP slammed the Congress’ protests. Sonia Gandhi has been summoned for the second round of questioning on July 25.
CVoter – IndiaTracker conducted an opinion poll on behalf of IANS to know people’s views on the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s questioning by ED and vendetta politics.
During the survey, while people were divided in their opinion on the issue, a bigger proportion of respondents said the Modi government is misusing the investigating agency against the Gandhi family. According to survey data, while 56 per cent respondents said that ED questioning of the Congress president is a manifestation of vindictive politics by the Modi government, 44 per cent respondents did not share the sentiment.
Interestingly, during the survey, while the majority of opposition voters – 60 per cent opined that the ED action was vendetta, views of the NDA voters were divided with a bigger proportion of respondents from the block replying on similar lines. According to the survey data, 52 per cent of NDA voters believe that the action of the investigating agency against Sonia Gandhi is a political vendetta.
The survey revealed differences in the opinions of different social groups on the issue. According to the survey data, the majority of Scheduled Castes (SC) – 70 per cent, Scheduled Tribes (ST) – 63 per cent and Muslims – 66 per cent believe that the Modi government is misusing the investigating agency against its political opponents.
During the survey, Upper Caste Hindus (UCH) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) were divided on the issue. As per the survey data, while 5 per cent of UCH respondents termed the ED action as genuine, 51 per cent of OBC respondents called it vendetta politics.
–IANS