I view my 5 days of ED interrogation as a medal: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that he views his interrogation by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Herald case "like a medal".

Gandhi also hit out at the Centre, saying he was not worried and accused the BJP-led government of using probe agencies against its political rivals.

"After I left, I was wondering why they only interrogated me for five days, why not 10 days. I thought maybe I`m not opposing them strongly enough...it is quite clear that anybody who opposes the BJP faces ED. I view my five days of interrogation like a medal, and I am hoping that they do it again 3,4,5,6,10 times," Gandhi said at a public rally at Wandoor in Malappuram in Kerala.

"The BJP thinks that by interrogating me for five days asking me the same questions again and again for 55-60 hours, I will get worried," he added.

Rahul Gandhi was questioned by ED for five days about the ownership of Young Indian Private Limited (YIL) by the Gandhi family and its shareholding pattern in Associate Journals Limited (AJL), the company that runs the National Herald newspaper.

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BJP and CPI-M "have an understanding": RaGa

Gandhi said that the Centre won’t use CBI, ED against Kerala CM because BJP and CPI-M "have an understanding".

"Why the ED did not question the Kerala Chief Minister at all. I am being questioned for 5 days by ED and the Chief Minister of Kerala is not questioned at all. Why is it that the government of India which has ED, CBI, which uses these instruments against anybody who opposes them, why is it that they are not using them against the Chief Minister of Kerala?--because there is an understanding between the BJP and the CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist)," he said.

The Congress leader alleged that the government was keen on "capturing institutions".

"Anybody who stands against the ideology of the RSS of the BJP is attacked in the media by the ED, by the CBI, by the police. And the BJP and the Prime Minister think that they can frighten the people who do not agree with their ideology. But there are many, many people in the country, who are not frightened," he said.

He accused the BJP of "spreading hate" and said people should fight against any effort to divide communities.

(With inputs from ANI)

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