The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik in connection with a money-laundering case linked to an old property deal allegedly involving gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
The Sena-NCP-Congress coalition in Maharashtra has taken the arrest of Malik as another plot to destabilise the state government, resolving to fight with all their might what they condemned as a brazen political witch-hunt by the Centre.
While the attempts to trigger cracks within the coalition have drawn a blank because the perception of political witch-hunt brought the three partners closer, there was also an assessment that the desperate BJP might be plotting to introduce the Dawood angle into the remaining phases of the Uttar Pradesh elections.
Senior Congress leaders, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and many Opposition leaders have expressed solidarity with NCP chief Sharad Pawar. There were unmistakable signs of a larger Opposition unity emerging against vindictive politics.
Sources close to Malik, the minority development, Auqaf, skill development and entrepreneurship minister in Maharashtra, said ED officials went to his Mumbai home and forcibly took him to the agency’s office on Wednesday morning. It was only after seven hours of questioning that Malik was handed the summons and told he was under arrest, the sources said.
The ED involved itself in the case dealing with the old property deal in what is being described as a convoluted manner, apparently using the excuse of a recent NIA probe. (See Page 4)
Malik, the NCP’s chief spokesperson, had recently made several allegations against Sameer Wankhede, former zonal head of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), accusing him of service-related wrongdoings. Malik had led the charge after the officer had arrested Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, in a drugs case.
While all the ministers in Maharashtra will stage a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue near the Mantralaya on Thursday, the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress will launch state-wide demonstrations from the day after.
On Wednesday, a senior Congress leader told The Telegraph: “The BJP has panicked in UP. It is sinking and is looking for a straw. They had been singing ‘terror-terror-terror’ for the last few days but that strategy needed some more ammunition. Nawab Malik, an outspoken Muslim leader, being linked to Dawood is an enticing proposition. The BJP cannot afford to let two big states — UP and Maharashtra — slip out of its hands. That will be doom for 2024. We all understand this game.”
Mamata asked Pawar not to take Malik’s resignation.
Akhilesh said: “Whenever the BJP gets rattled, they unleash central agencies to malign opponents.”
After a meeting of the senior leaders of the Congress and the NCP at Pawar’s residence, it was decided that the battle would be fought politically as well as legally. All the leaders present felt that the central government’s vindictive politics had crossed all limits.
The other partner, the Shiv Sena, is also of the same opinion with MP Sanjay Raut tweeting: “As we cannot fight face to face with Mahavikas Aghadi, Afzal Khan-like attacks are going on from behind. If a minister has been ill-treated and thrown inside, then come on. Nawab Malik should not resign… keep fighting and win. Kans and Ravana were also killed... this is Hindutva. Jai Maharashtra!”
Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal ruled out the resignation of Malik as minister. “What is his crime? They wove a bizarre story about Dawood, his sister and brother about a 30-year-old land deal. The arrest is wrong. There were several cases relating to Dawood. All this while, Malik’s name never cropped up. Because he fearlessly talks about injustice and corruption, the BJP is rattled. They want to silence him. This is not good for democracy,” Bhujbal said.
Former BJP chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, however, defended the arrest, insisting that Malik took over land worth hundreds of crores for barely Rs 30 lakh with the help of the underworld. He said this was a serious matter, not a political game as the issue was linked to terror funding.
Pawar himself extended support to Malik, saying that he was being targeted because he spoke against the Union government. “Which case have they dug up? It is simple. They take the name of Dawood, especially if there is a Muslim activist. There is no relation (between Dawood and Malik) but it is done. I was also targeted similarly in the mid-90s when I was the chief minister of Maharashtra and an atmosphere was created against me (about Dawood links).”
Pawar drove to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence to discuss the issue.
Senior Congress leader Bala Sahib Thorat said: “We strongly protest the ED’s action against Nawab Malik…. This kind of politics has never happened in this country. The conspiracy to discredit Maharashtra has been going on since the establishment of the Mahavikas Aghadi government but it will not succeed.”
Another senior NCP leader, Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse Patil, accused the Centre of engaging in vendetta and objected to the questioning of Malik by the ED without any notice.
