National Herald case: Congress-BJP tensions increase, leading to a war of words
An intense political battle has started between Congress and the BJP in New Delhi, following the Enforcement Directorate’s filing of a chargesheet against top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others in the National Herald money laundering case.
The chargesheet, filed on April 9, 2025 in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court, has sparked a nationwide stir by Congress workers and sharp rebuttals from the BJP, escalating tensions in the political space of the country.
The National Herald case was first initiated by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in 2012, based on allegations that the Congress had misused its party funds to acquire Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which is the publisher of the National Herald newspaper, through a company called Young Indian, in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi hold significant shares: about 38 per cent each. The ED further describes "close associates" of the Gandhis who were reported to have jointly held the remainder of about 24 per cent.
Congress has dismissed the charges as “baseless” and a “political vendetta” orchestrated by the Narendra Modi-led government to quash oppositional voices. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called the ED’s actions a “state-sponsored crime masquerading as the rule of law”, vowing that the party would fight back through public protests.
In response, the BJP has accused the Gandhis of turning the historic National Herald—founded during India’s freedom struggle—into a “private ATM” for personal gain. Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad emphasised that the Gandhis were out on bail and had failed to secure relief from higher courts, asserting that no one was “above the law”.
As Congress workers were detained during protests outside ED offices in Delhi and other states, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also weighed in, with spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar calling the case “open and shut”, and questioning why Congress leaders had not been arrested.
Andhra Pradesh Congress chief Y.S. Sharmila labeled the BJP the “Bhrasht Jumla Party” (where “bhrasht” means "corrupt" and “jumla” means "empty rhetoric"), accusing it of weaponising agencies like the ED and CBI. She further said that the saffron camp was afraid of the Congress.
The Congress, after a long time, seems to be focusing on building its cadre and ironing out its structural problems, with Rahul Gandhi traversing the BJP’s bastion territory Gujarat to lift cadre enthusiasm, and to dethrone the saffron camp in Gujarat's next assembly elections in 2027. There also seems to be an attempt from the ruling party to break Congress' inceptive momentum, which the grand old party was trying to rebuild after the back-to-back assembly losses in Maharashtra and Haryana.
The case is scheduled for further hearing on April 25, 2025. The National Herald controversy continues to fuel a heated war of words, deepening the political divide and setting the stage for a prolonged legal and public battle.
India
