Guwahati, Apr 16 (PTI) Congress workers demonstrated outside the office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Guwahati to protest the charge sheet against party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.

Led by state Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah, senior leaders like Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi, former Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora and MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar, along with scores of party workers, marched to the ED office on GS Road.

The Congress workers were detained outside the ED office and taken to the 10th Assam Police Battalion camp, from where they were later released, a senior official told PTI.

“Congress has always been protesting the BJP’s increasing attacks on the press. The other day, it sought to attach the assets of the National Herald newspaper and implicate our leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi,” Borah said.

The Assam Congress unequivocally condemns the latest draconian move by the Narendra Modi government — the arbitrary and unjust seizure of the assets of National Herald and filing of a charge sheet against party leadership, he added.

“This is not a matter of legal procedure, it is a state-sponsored crime masquerading as the rule of law. It represents a grotesque misuse of state power. It is a direct assault on the idea of democratic opposition, a crude attempt at political intimidation by the ruling regime, which has gone completely berserk,” Borah alleged.

Terming the move as vendetta politics at its worst, he said that the Congress and its leadership will never be silenced.

Bordoloi said, “Targeting Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi is a desperate move by a fearful government. While agencies shield the corrupt in power, they attack those who speak up. We stand for the people, the Constitution and fearless leadership.” The ED has filed a charge sheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and others before a special court in the National Herald case, accusing them of laundering Rs 988 crore. PTI TR TR SOM