Shiv Sena claims misuse of CBI, ED; questions why no probe in Ayodhya land deal

The Shiv Sena on Sunday again alleged that the Central investigation agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were being misused to target political opponents instead of probing the alleged scam in land deal for the construction of the iconic Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

“Our freedom fighters did not fear the tyranny of the British government but in independent India, political activists fear the Central investigation agencies. The freedom fighters bravely went to prison and to the gallows but political activists are forced to surrender to harassment by the Central agencies,” Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said in his weekly column Rokhthok in Saamana, a Shiv Sena mouthpiece.

Raut’s editorial comes in the backdrop of ED raids on former state home minister Anil Deshmukh in the money laundering and bribery case and the Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik’s allegation of harassment by the Central agency in a case of money laundering. Sarnaik recently wrote to Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray claiming his “harassment” could end if the Shiv Sena re-aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“The raid on Anil Deshmukh’s house resembled as if he was a dacoit from Chambal. These agencies are riding roughshod over the state governments and it appears that they have been told to harass Maharashtra and West Bengal,” said Raut.

Claiming that the Central agencies have become a political tool for the ruling parties since 1975, Raut said, “The [Telugu Desam Party or the TDP] MPs Y S Chowdary and C M Ramesh defected to the BJP in 2019 after the Income Tax (IT) department raided them for [alleged] tax evasion and money laundering. Their harassment stopped after they joined the ruling party and today they are relieved. Such incidents have forced an aggressive leader like Sarnaik, who had initially pledged to fight such agencies, to surrender, as his family is being dragged into this,” said Raut.

Raut said even PM Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah had faced similar ordeal when the Congress-led government was ruling the Centre.

Raut said that such tactics do not augur well for the country and questioned how Central agencies “swept the cases” registered against political leaders under the carpet if they joined the ruling party.

The MP questioned why CBI or ED was not probing the alleged land deal in Ayodhya. “The biggest land scam has taken place in the Ram Temple deal in which relatives of the Ayodhya mayor sold the land parcels for crores after buying them at much cheaper prices. This needs to be probed by the Central agencies, but until now it’s untouched,” he said.

The BJP said Sena’s allegations of a witch hunt by Central agencies was a “ploy to save corrupt leaders”. “The Sena is using the Ram Mandir ploy to save its corrupt extortionist leaders from action. They are trying to divert attention from the corruption issue,” party MLA Ram Kadam said.

However, political analyst Surendra Jondhale said there was a perception that Central agencies were being misused and the government should understand that this was likely to be “counter-productive” in the long run.