'BJP has started a very dangerous game of political vendetta. It will pay a costly price.'
'There is deep desire on the part of the BJP to take political advantage of certain legal issues'
After a 10-minute hearing, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul were on Saturday granted unconditional bail in the high-voltage National Herald case by a local court which said that offences alleged against them were not of "serious magnitude" at this stage and there was no apprehension that they would flee.
Rediff.com’s Prasanna D Zore, who had been in the midst of the action outside the Patiala House court in Delhi all through the day, spoke to a couple of Congressmen. Here's what they had to say:
Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Union minister
Between 2002 to 2014, when Narendra Modi was the Gujarat chief minister, he would often say that the central government was politically vindictive towards him. Now, you are also saying the same thing. Why cannot India's top political leaders face the law without talking about political vindictiveness?
If there is political vindictiveness, we have to underline it. This is not a question of a purely legal situation.
Look at way the complainant (Dr Subramanian Swamy) is acting.
What is his complaint? Has he been affected in any way? Has he any locus in this matter?
He is BJP's central committee member and then one begins to wonder whether the BJP is firing from his shoulders. See now, he has been rewarded with a government house. And then we see the director of the Enforcement Directorate, which closed the (National Herald) case, is almost immediately transferred.
All this shows there is deep desire on the part of the BJP -- and it is in keeping with their character -- to take political advantage of certain legal issues. We will answer these legal issues in the courts of law. We will answer every political issue in every field, on every mountain and every beach.
What will be Congress's political and legal strategy now?
As you can see this (pointing towards the crowd gathered in support of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi) we are fighting the BJP politically and in the courts. We will follow the court procedures.
Do you think Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal should have called the prime minister a psychopath?
In politics, if you cannot take the heat you better get out of the kitchen.
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Jaiveer Shergill, Supreme Court lawyer and Congress leader
What message do you think has the court appearance of Sonia and Rahul sent to the government?
The fact that Sonia Gandhi appeared in the court of law proves the fact that we strongly believe in Indian courts and respect them and equally emphasises that we will not succumb to this government's pressure to arm-twist us and speak their language.
And BJP has started a very dangerous game of political vendetta. It will pay a costly price not just in the courts of law but also in the court of the people of India.
What will be your political and legal strategy going ahead?
We will legally expose that this case is based on falsity and with a singular mindset to maliciously malign the Gandhi family.
Politically, we want to send a strong signal to the government that we will not buckle under any arm-twisting us or scare us.
