‘Chai and biscuits on me’: Rahul Gandhi says ED raid being planned against him

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, claimed that a raid by the Enforcement Directorate is being planned against him. He said this was due to the “chakravyuh” remark he made during a debate in the Lower House. Gandhi said like during Mahabharata, there is a 21st century ‘chakravyuh’ in the form of lotus – the symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party – which Prime Minister Narendra Modi wears on his chest.

“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,” said Gandhi in a late night post on X, in a veiled dig at PM Modi and Amit Shah.

The Congress leader’s remarks are a reference to the heightened ED activity against INDIA bloc members in the run-up to the elections. Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on charges of corruption and money laundering over Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped. Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren was also arrested by the ED in a money laundering case linked to a land scam.

Gandhi, using ‘chakravyuh’ as a metaphor borrowed from the Mahabharata, said that there is an atmosphere of fear in the country and the sole aim of Union Budget 2024 was to strengthen the three forces of power – capital monopoly and the concentration of financial power, institutions and agencies such as the CBI, ED and IT department, and the political executive – that have devastated the country.

Everyone is getting trapped in the 'chakravyuh' of fear, including farmers and workers as well as BJP MPs. "Thousands of years ago in Haryana, in Kurukshetra, six people killed a youth, Abhimanyu, in a 'chakravyuh'. A 'chakravyuh' has violence and fear. Abhimanyu was trapped and killed in the 'chakravyuh'," he said. 'Chakravyuh' is a battle formation, a multi-tiered maze, that was difficult to break through. 'Chakravyuh' is also called 'Padmavyūha', a multi-tiered formation, resembling a lotus.

Asserting that the opposition will break the 'chakravyuh', Gandhi said, "You build a 'chakravyuh', and we break the 'chakravyuh'.” “What was done with Abhinmanyu is being done with youth, women, farmers and MSMEs," he said.

Gandhi said he was hoping the Union Budget 2024 would weaken this 'chakravyuh' and help the farmers, labourers and the small and medium businesses but instead it strengthened the framework of monopoly business, political monopoly and the deep state or the agencies.