‘Political vendetta’ has become the go-to excuse for the politically cornered. So overused now, it might as well be part of every party’s standard template.
Every knock is a conspiracy
Every time the law takes a step in the direction of a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader, K Chandrashekar Rao and K Taraka Rama Rao accuse Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of score-settling. A notice, a summon, a vague rumour — all instantly labelled as a political hit job.
Cry vendetta, rinse, repeat
Former Andhra chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy needs no prompting. Any probe that so much as mentions his name is immediately blamed on Chandrababu Naidu and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The routine is predictable – indignation, a press conference, and silence when facts emerge.
Optics over evidence
Delhi ex-chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal and Atishi of the Aam Aadmi Party have been howling vendetta louder than a loudspeaker every time an agency knocks. ED summons? CBI visit? Delhi excise policy case? All, apparently, part of Modi’s grand scheme to ruin them. Evidence, of course, is incidental.
Old party, old playbook
The Congress has now dusted off its own well-worn outrage manual. The Gandhis are bemoaning harassment in the National Herald case, while Robert Vadra’s land deals are, apparently, nothing but a ‘cruel conspiracy’ to tarnish a perfectly respectable real estate career.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in connection with the National Herald case.
Other Congress leaders, including Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey, have also been named as accused in the case.
The chargesheet was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for ‘commission of the offense of money laundering’ along with a section that deals with offense by companies and seeks to establish ‘vicarious liability’ of office-bearers and executives of the firm.
The pattern is all drama, no defence
What is common across all these cries? A glaring lack of explanation. No real defence, no convincing proof of innocence – just a theatrical display of wounded righteousness. The narrative is always the same: ‘We are clean. The government is evil. How dare they ask questions?’ It’s no longer about truth or law. It is about optics. Victimhood is now a strategy, not a state of being.
Perhaps someone should compile a dossier of all such political sob stories. It might not help clear anyone’s name, but it would certainly save a few parties the trouble of drafting fresh statements every time the law catches up.