Congress leaders and workers protested across the country on Thursday against what they called the government’s conspiracy to silence the Opposition as the Enforcement Directorate questioned Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald case.

Senior leaders said there was no need for the interrogation as all the relevant information had been in the public domain for several years.

They alleged that the government’s real objective was to frighten the Congress leadership into giving up posing uncomfortable questions to Narendra Modi.

And the implied message to all critics and opponents of the government was that if Sonia and Rahul Gandhi could be treated in this manner, others could not hope to be spared, they said.

“There is no substance to the National Herald case. They grilled Rahul Gandhi for five days, till late in the night every day. We never saw such an interrogation in history despite so many big scams,” Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said.

“Now the 75-year-old, ailing Congress president has been summoned. This is low-grade behaviour,” the chief minister added.

“They could have sent a couple of officers to her residence to record her statement if it was that important to the investigation,” Gehlot said.

He added: “We know that everybody is equal before the law. But it is not so under the Modi regime. Those who are with Modi are immune to the power of law. Ongoing cases are put in the cold storage when you join the BJP. Only opponents are to be harassed.

“They are setting a dangerous precedent. There is an atmosphere of fear and suffocation. Don’t think that Hindutva will keep you in power forever.”

Party spokesperson Pawan Khera, who addressed the media with Gehot, said: “Everybody sees the political alliance of the Modi government with the central agencies. The conspiracy is to silence critics and opponents. They don’t want us to show them the mirror; they get intolerant when we recall their false promises and expose their betrayal.

“But the perception of the Congress they have in mind is based on the cowards who defected. They don’t know the Gandhi-Nehru family and the real Congress.”

If the government’s intention is indeed to scare the Congress into silence with the case, the result has so far been unsatisfactory because it has caused the largely inactive Congress workers to erupt in anger.

While party workers protested across the country, the mobilisation in Delhi was far bigger than the protests seen during Rahul’s interrogation. While all the office-bearers and senior leaders assembled at the Congress headquarters, MPs protested in both Houses and then marched to the party office.

All of them courted arrest as the police refused to let them march to the ED office. Senior leaders and MPs were detained at various police stations and released only after Sonia’s three-hour questioning ended.

The Youth Congress, Mahila Congress and student arm NSUI held flash demonstrations at several spots. Youth Congress workers stopped trains and road traffic in Delhi defying the heavy police deployment.

The Congress sought a discussion in Parliament on the subject of the central agencies harassing Opposition leaders and the government’s other critics. A statement by 13 parties accusing the government of vendetta politics too was released.

“The Modi sarkar has unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies,” the statement said.

“Prominent leaders of a number of political parties have been deliberately targeted and subjected to harassment in an unprecedented manner.”

It added: “We condemn this and resolve to continue and intensify our collective fight against the anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-Constitution policies of the Modi sarkar that is destroying the social fabric of our society.”

The statement was signed by the Congress, DMK, National Conference, CPM, CPI, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, MDMK, Nationalist Congress Party, VCK, Shiv Sena, IUML, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the RSP.

Rahul Gandhi commented on the deadlock in Parliament, tweeting: “Demand a debate on GST – House adjourned. Debate on price rise – House adjourned. Debate on Agnipath – House adjourned. Debate on the misuse of agencies – House adjourned. The voice of the people is being openly suppressed. Truth will prevail over this arrogance and dictatorship.”

Asked why the Congress was enacting a political drama over the ED doing its job, party communications chief Jairam Ramesh said: “This is political vendetta; vendetta will be answered in this language alone.”

Senior leader and lawyer P. Chidambaram expressed surprise at Sonia’s questioning.

“The AJL-Young Indian transaction is recorded in the books of account, the returns filed by the two companies and in the income-tax returns. All that the ED wants to know can be found in the records,” he said.

The probe relates to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper, published by Associated Journals Limited.

“Are they saying they can’t read the balance sheets of the companies? Everything is in the public domain for the last several years,” Chidambaram said.

“The income-tax case is pending before the Supreme Court. The ED is not higher than the Supreme Court. What is it that the ED wants to ‘investigate’ that will not be examined by the SC?

“The ED is overreaching the SC and trying to intimidate the Congress party. The Congress party will not bow down to the intimidation.”

Another lawyer and Congress leader, Abhishek Singhvi, too asserted that there was no reason for Sonia’s interrogation except for political harassment.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath tweeted: “The Modi government has indulged in the lowly act of harassing Sonia Gandhi in gross violation of constitutional, cultural and political traditions of this country…. By harassing her for no crime, the government will lose whatever little credibility it has.”

The Congress is conscious of the charge that it has created a ruckus over legal procedures, and many senior leaders from within its ranks therefore tried to explain the reason for the protests.

Former law and external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said: “It is not about individuals or a particular case. What we are opposing is the misuse of agencies to frighten political opponents. This will destroy democracy.”

Ramesh contested reports that Sonia had requested the ED to stop the questioning as she was a Covid patient.

“This is baseless, a lie. At 12.20, she was told by ED that she has to come after lunch. At 2.30, she was told there was no need to come back,” he said.

“The Congress president said she was willing to come back and answer questions till late night but the ED said, ‘No need’. They suggested she could be called next week – either Monday or Tuesday.”