Will win battle on waqf issue, ED action will not frighten us: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said the party will not be daunted by the Enforcement Directorate's action against its leaders and also asserted that it will win the battle against the BJP-led central government on the Waqf (Amendment) Act.

Addressing a meeting of party general secretaries and in-charges in New Delhi, Kharge said the Supreme Court has given importance to the points raised by the Congress and other opposition parties on the Act and alleged that the government had raked the ‘Waqf by user’ issue deliberately to create a dispute over such properties.

He said the Congress party brought together the entire opposition against the government's Waqf (Amendment) Bill.

“The Supreme Court is hearing this case right now, we are confident that we will win this battle too," he said, adding, "I am happy that the Supreme Court has given importance to the points raised by the Congress and other opposition parties."

He accused the BJP and the central government of misleading people on the issue of waqf.

"Especially the issue of 'Waqf by user' has been deliberately brought up by the government to put Waqf properties into dispute," he alleged.

He said former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were named in the Enforcement Directorate chargesheet and National Herald properties in Delhi, Lucknow and Mumbai were attached with a "spirit of vendetta".

“You must have noticed how, as part of a big conspiracy, the names of CPP Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have been put in the charge sheet in the National Herald case. But no matter whose name they put, we are not going to be afraid,” Kharge said.

“Just two or three days before that, the properties of National Herald in Delhi, Lucknow and Mumbai were attached. There is no doubt that all this is being done out of a spirit of vendetta,” he said.

Asserting that 'Young Indian' is a 'not for profit' company, Kharge said this means that no one can take or transfer the shares, properties or profit of AJL.

Priyanka Gandhi at the AICC secretaries' meeting in New Delhi, 19 April 2025 (PTI)

“The BJP people are misleading people by lying. We have to tell the truth to the public,” he said.

The Enforcement Directorate filed the chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others before a special court here in the National Herald case, accusing them of laundering Rs 988 crore.

The agency has alleged that a "criminal conspiracy" was carried out by Congress leaders to "usurp" properties worth Rs 2,000 crore of its public company Associated Journals Limited (AJL) by transferring 99 per cent shares to their private company named Young Indian for just Rs 50 lakh, a firm where Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are the majority shareholders.

“It cannot be a mere coincidence that on one hand our AICC session is being held in Ahmedabad and immediately after that such a big action of ED is taken,” Kharge said.

“I would like to remind you here that when the Congress plenary session was held in Raipur under my leadership, Modi ji got our leaders raided by using ED and CBI to make it a failure. His intention was to prevent the session from taking place. Still, it took place,” he said.

आज AICC महासचिवों, प्रभारियों और फ्रंटल संगठनों के अध्यक्षों की बैठक में मेरे शुरुआती वक्तव्य के अंश —

पिछले 8-9 अप्रैल को हम सभी लोग अहमदाबाद AICC सत्र में मिले थे। आप सभी को मैं इस सेशन की ऐतिहासिक सफलता के लिए बहुत बधाई देता हूं।

इस सेशन में पारित Resolution को आप सभी ने… pic.twitter.com/53fo6yWMJs

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) April 19, 2025

Before the Lok Sabha elections, "our accounts were closed, yet the public doubled our numbers in the Lok Sabha", Kharge said, asserting that “our fight did not weaken”.

Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra among others attended the meeting at the Congress’ Indira Bhawan office in New Delhi.

Referring to the Ahmedabad AICC session on April 8-9, Kharge said leaders have to take the message of the resolution passed there to every district, division, block and booth.

“You can understand the seriousness of our decisions from the fact that on 15-16 April, Rahul Gandhi ji called a meeting regarding the election of district presidents in Gujarat. He communicated with the observers and instructed how the district presidents are to be selected,” he said.

Kharge said there are many burning issues before the country, which the party has to keep raising continuously.

“We have to continue working in a planned manner," the Congress president said.