National Herald case: How Congress tried to turn "bail" into kind of a victory celebration

Click here for National Herald case timeline The long-drawn hype and hoopla around Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi’s appearance in Metropolitan Magistrate’s court at Patiala House was all over in five minutes. The Gandhis and other Congress leaders — Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey — applied for bail and the judge granted it. There were brief arguments by Subramanian Swamy and Congress’s lawyers Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi on the bail matter - whether to grant it with conditions or without conditions. The next date of hearing was fixed at 20 February 2016 and the matter was over for the day.[caption id=“attachment_2552632” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi address the media at party headquarters in New Delhi. Former PM Manmohan Singh is also seen in the background. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost[/caption] The date, 19 December, however, shall be remembered as an important day in the political and legal history of the country. It was for the first time that four Special Protection Group (SPG) protectees appeared together in any court room of the country. The Gandhis - Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka - and Manmohan Singh are protected by the elite force. The last occasion when an SPG protectee came close to appearing in court involved former prime minister PV Narshima Rao. He was supposed to attend a trial court at Tis Hazari in connection with a corruption case. However, Delhi Police urged the high court to make him appear at an alternate safer and cosier venue - Vigyan Bhawan. It was also for the first time today that the president, vice-president and other senior leaders of a party were made to appear before a trial court. Indira Gandhi, of course, appeared before one in 1978 but there was no trial to be held. It was for the first a former prime minister was present in a trial court to give moral support to his political bosses. Minutes after the court formalities, the Congress turned the bail for Sonia and Rahul as also for other leaders (Sam Pitroda couldn’t get bail because he couldn’t appear before court on medical grounds) into a victory drama of sorts. They drove straight to the AICC headquarters at 24 Akbar Road to take reverential greetings from senior leaders and workers and to briefly address the media. Amid enthusiastic chants by Congress men and women, Sonia said “I don’t have slightest of doubt that truth will prevail.” She said a disinformation campaign against them by their political rival had been on for generations. The present government was purposefully misusing government agencies to target them. “None of us is scared. Our fight will continue,” she said. Rahul then took the mike to announce: “Modi levels false charges and thinks that we will bow down. The opposition will not bow down. We will not yield even an inch.” Manmohan Singh took the turn to declare that the “Congress stood united in support of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. We will give a determined fight.” The recurring theme in the brief address of all three was – the Congress would launch a vigorous fight against ruling BJP. The mood of the Congress workers outside the Congress headquarters at 24 Akbar Road today was somewhat reminiscent of May 1999 when Sonia Gandhi’s position as Congress president was challenged by Sharad Pawar, Tariq Anwar and PA Sangma on her Italian origin issue. The intensity of their protest, which is so characteristic of the Congress on any occasion, good or bad, concerning its First Family, was however a bit diluted. These are different times and the political situation is entirely different. Then the Congress workers were responding to an attempted internal coup. The party still had substantive presence in Lok Sabha and was ruling many Indian states in all regions of the country. Today the Congress has shrunk to 45 seats in Lok Sabha and the party is withering away in all states. Moreover, the Congress president and vice-president were made to appear before a Metropolitan Magistrate on orders of a lower court and high court in a case involving alleged cheating, misappropriation and criminal conspiracy. In May 1999, the banners of Congress workers turned Pawar, Tariq and Sangma into hate objects. But a banner broadly captured similarity of sentiments that prevailed in 1999 and 2015 – “Raebareli Ka Tufan badlega Hindutan”. Now Sonia Gandhi and her heir Rahul Gandhi are firmly placed in the Indian political scene. Internally, Congress leaders and workers realise that the crisis is much graver and no one can really predict the way the National Herald case would go. Since 2012 when Swamy filed the case against them for appropriating Rs 2000 crore property of the erstwhile newspaper group by forming a Rs 5 lakh company Young India, court proceedings have gone against the Congress’s brass. For several days the Congress leadership had brainstormed on a script to take a high moral ground, as also to act in such a way that the Gandhis could gain political sympathy. Though they opted out of the jail option to the safer or perhaps, more prudent, bail option, the rest of it followed a well-thought out script. This is how it unfolded: First Sonia and Rahul chose to go to Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence for some last minute consultation with other senior leaders. From there the Congress’s who’s who moved to Patiala House in cavalcade. Both walked from the gates of Patiala House premises to the court room, waving to waiting media persons so that a picture of their confidence could go nationwide. Hours before they appeared before the court, there were protests not only in Delhi but in various other parts of the country, Mumbai, Lucknow, Bhopal etc. Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said this was all spontaneous. In the present case, there have been reports that the Congress is making preparations to turn this occasion into a show of strength. Earlier in the day, senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, said their fight was `Sansad se Sadak’ (from Parliament to streets) and recalled that it was Congress which made India Independent and went on giving a long speech on Congress’s contribution to nation-building and Indira Gandhi’s fightback to power in 1978. Sonia’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, who couldn’t make it to Patiala House, had let the world know through a Facebook post that he stood behind his in-laws family.