The Congress has warned government officials not to overstep their legal powers to harass the BJP’s opponents, saying the new government would hold them accountable for all acts performed with political motives.

The party adopted the tough posture after the CBI raided former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and booked him on cheating and corruption charges on Friday.

“All officials must hear this. We are warning and cautioning them not to exceed their brief or take any action outside the ambit of the law in furtherance of the government’s sinister agenda,” Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said.

“Whether it is the Enforcement Directorate, income-tax (department) or the CBI, nobody should act as a political tool of the government.”

Sharma alleged that the crackdown on Hooda was a political witch-hunt and highlighted that Friday was the last day of campaigning for the by-election to the Jind Assembly seat in Haryana.

“Governments do not have any permanency. A few weeks are left for the general election to begin. It is certain that this government is rattled; the Prime Minister is staring at an imminent defeat and that is why these actions (are taking place),” he said.

“When the new government assumes office, all such actions which have been (taken) at the behest of the political masters of today to harass, intimidate, frame and defame — they (the officials) will be held to account and they will have to answer.”

Sharma added: “The Narendra Modi government is arrogant and authoritarian.

It has acted with vengeance and ill-will towards political opponents. But officers should not become political tools. They are being used to defame and terrorise political rivals.

“The government has done a great disservice to democratic institutions. These agencies have lost credibility. What is happening to the CBI over the past few months bears testimony to the government’s sinister designs. But we want to tell everybody concerned that the Congress is not going to be cowed down.”

The Congress and other Opposition parties such as the Trinamul Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Nationalist Congress Party have repeatedly accused the Modi government of engaging in political vendetta.

“This is the mindset of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. They are working on a plan to defame and intimidate political opponents,” Sharma alleged.

“Only authoritarian regimes and fascists work in this manner. The courts are looking into the cases against Hooda. Where was the need for a raid in the middle of the election campaign? They are converting India into a police state. Democracies do not work like that.”

Sharma recalled that many BJP leaders too faced serious charges.

“Are there two sets of laws in this country — one applicable to the political opponents of the BJP and the other in which the same agencies are used to shield the BJP ministers and chief ministers? The Prime Minister has never bothered about the double standard.”