The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has questioned the timing of the Enforcement Directorate raid at the residence of its Delhi State Convenor Saurabh Bharadwaj, alleging it was orchestrated to divert attention from the raging debate on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree. Senior AAP leader Dilip Pandey said the BJP has a pattern of using raids against Opposition leaders whenever uncomfortable questions arise, recalling how former Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain was jailed in a “fabricated case” that has now been closed by the CBI. He asserted that the BJP cannot silence AAP’s voice and vowed to continue exposing the ruling party’s political vendetta. At a press conference on Tuesday, senior AAP leader Dilip Pandey said that the BJP’s style of functioning has become so predictable that even small children in the country can guess what it will do after any major event. “For the BJP, everything is about headline management,” he remarked. He pointed out that the Enforcement Directorate raid at AAP Delhi State Convenor Saurabh Bharadwaj’s residence was conducted only because, on 25th August, the entire country was discussing nothing except PM Narendra Modi’s degree.
“People across the nation were speculating why Modi ji refuses to show his degree. The psychology of our country is such that if there is a wall with a sign saying ‘Do not paste posters here,’ people begin to wonder why it has been written,” Dilip Pandey said. The senior AAP leader further stated that when the discussions around the Prime Minister’s degree intensified, people began questioning whether the degree might be fake. “Across tea shops, at street corners, on social media and mainstream media, the talk of Modi ji’s fake degree was spreading. According to the BJP’s rule book, whenever it senses political damage, it must immediately create a distraction. Following the same strategy, the BJP used a fabricated case to order a raid at former minister Saurabh Bharadwaj’s house, solely to divert national attention from Modi ji’s degree,” he asserted.
He underlined that the allegations against Bharadwaj are baseless. “At the time being referred to in this case, Saurabh Bharadwaj was not even a minister. This exposes the BJP’s lies. The entire country saw how former minister Satyendar Jain was jailed for almost three years under false charges, only because he gave world-class Mohalla Clinics to the people of Delhi in the health sector. In the end, the CBI and ED had to file closure reports as no evidence was ever found,” Dilip Pandey said. Highlighting a recurring pattern, Dilip Pandey said, “Whenever the BJP’s failures are exposed or questions are raised about its incompetence, it immediately resorts to raids against opposition leaders to distract the public. But the country is waking up and beginning to understand BJP’s modus operandi. Questions will continue to be asked about its politics of vendetta, its failures, and its fabrications. The voice of AAP cannot be silenced, and we will continue to expose the BJP’s ways.”