CHENNAI: Senior Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday accused the BJP-led central government of misusing the National Herald case to build a negative image against the Congress party, and alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) acted in violation of the law.

He said the recent Delhi court relief to the Gandhis had exposed the “revengeful politics” behind the case.

Addressing reporters in Chennai, P Chidambaram said the National Herald case had been “fabricated” to target senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He welcomed the Delhi special court’s decision rejecting the ED’s chargesheet, stating that the judge had delivered a well-reasoned and fair judgment.

The National Herald was published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which Young Indian Private Limited later acquired. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders are directors of Young Indian. Alleging irregularities in this transaction, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a private complaint in 2014.

Based on this, the ED initiated an investigation and filed a chargesheet.

However, the Delhi court ruled that the chargesheet could not be accepted as it was filed without an FIR and only based on a private complaint. Chidambaram said this judgment shows the Congress party’s consistent stand that the ED had no legal basis to proceed.

He said, “Money transactions by themselves are not a crime. Only illegal money transactions amount to an offence; in the National Herald case, there was no allegation that anyone paid money to anyone else. From the inception of Young Indian, not even a single rupee was transacted. Without a primary offence being registered, a secondary offence cannot be investigated."

He alleged that the ED had acted illegally by registering a case without an FIR and said the court had rightly dismissed the case on this ground. Chidambaram said that the central government should drop its policy of political revenge and targeting opposition leaders.

He also claimed that the ED selectively focused on states ruled by opposition parties.

Addressing the issue of renaming of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), he questioned whether removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name was justified, remarking that it was equivalent to “killing Gandhi again” 77 years after his assassination.

Chidambaram said that if the ED chose to appeal the verdict, it would only show that the central government had still not learned its lesson.