New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted on X early on August 2 (today) saying that he had been told that the Enforcement Directorate was planning a raid on him and noting that he was ready for any action.
“Apparently, 2 in 1 didn’t like my Chakravyuh speech. ED ‘insiders’ tell me a raid is being planned. Waiting with open arms @dir_ed…..Chai and biscuits on me,” the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha wrote at 1.52 am.
By “2 in 1” Gandhi could possibly have meant Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.
In his Lok Sabha speech on July 29, Gandhi had used the ‘chakravyuh’ metaphor from the Mahabharat to say that just as Arjun’s son Abhimanyu had been trapped by a battle formation that surrounds a warrior, the country too had been trapped under the rule of Narendra Modi, his faithful, and an atmosphere of fear.
Gandhi had said that the chakravyuh was also known as the padma or kamal (lotus) vyuh – drawing a parallel with the BJP’s symbol. This symbol, Gandhi had said, was one that Modi proudly wore during campaigns for the Lok Sabha election.
Like the chakravyuh of the epic, Gandhi said this new chakravyuh was of six people: PM Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and the businessmen Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expunged the last four names.
The chakravyuh controlling India has three controlling powers, Gandhi had also said. “They are the idea of monopoly capital, the political monopoly, and you may say, Deep State, the agencies – CBI and ED,” he had said.
The Enforcement Directorate is among the three central agencies that have repeatedly been accused of executing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s political agenda by moving to arrest, question or detain key opposition party leaders ahead of elections. This year, the ED arrested two sitting chief ministers of Indian states – Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal, who is still in jail, and Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren, who quit just as he was being arrested but has returned to the position after getting bail.
