The Enforcement Directorate’s move to interrogate Maharashtra minister and senior NCP leader Nawab Malik has sparked a war of words between the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi and the opposition BJP. While NCP alleged that the BJP government is taking revenge upon him using the central agency, the BJP said that the allegations against Malik are serious and a thorough probe should be done. The Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress have joined hands to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar claimed that Nawab Malik is being troubled because he spoke against the Union government. Pawar said the NCP had anticipated such an action against Malik since he speaks openly. “Which case have they dug up? It is simple. They take the name of Dawood, especially if there is a Muslim activist (against whom a case is dug up)…There is no relation (between the activist concerned and underworld), but it is done,” Pawar said while recalling that he too was targeted similarly in the early 90s when he was the chief minister of Maharashtra.
Maharashtra NCP chief and state minister Jayant Patil said that Malik was taken for questioning without prior information. “Nawab Malik has been taken to the Enforcement Directorate office for questioning without prior information. He had exposed BJP leaders in the past few days, so revenge is being taken now,” he alleged.
NCP MP Supriya Sule termed the move an insult to Maharashtra. “For many days people of BJP were tweeting that ED notice will come against Nawab Malik and Maha Vikas Aghadi. They directly took him to the ED office without any notice. I don’t know what new type of politics they have started. It’s an insult to Maharashtra,” she alleged.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, on the other hand, warned BJP leaders that a similar fate awaites them after 2024, implying that the Modi government would fall after the next general elections. “Nawab Malik is a senior leader and Maharashtra’s cabinet minister. The way in which he was taken from his home by the Enforcement Directorate is a challenge to the Maharashtra government. A minister is taken away by central agencies by coming to our state. Old issues are being dug out but you should remember that after 2024 you too will be probed,” said Raut.
Nawab Malik’s office said that the minister’s son and Advocate Amir Malik have accompanied him to the ED office.
NCP spokesperson Clyde Crasto alleged that the action against Malik was nothing but pressure tactics to silence his voice as he was exposing the wrongdoings of some people as chief spokesperson of a political party.
However, senior BJP leader and former state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that it is too early to call the ED’s inquiry “vendetta politics” when the details of the action are not yet out. “What should we call the way Union minister Narayan Rane was arrested a few months back? BJP MLA Nitesh Rane is also being hounded by the state authorities. Malik is not a state-level leader of the NCP. If he has done something suspicious, then it should be probed. There should not be any rush to stamp it as vendetta politics,” Mungantiwar told media persons.
Narayan Rane’s son Nitesh Rane who is also an MLA in Maharashtra Assembly, said, “Hope every(one) knows that Nawab Malik has been brought in ED office to enquire about Dawood Ibrahim’s money laundering links and not to ask if he ate his Biryani last night! Stop making him a hero! It’s a matter of national security!! Dawood is a most wanted criminal..Nawab Gaddar hai! (sic).”
Maharashtra BJP vice president Chitra Wagh said a few months back, serious allegations were levelled by former state CM Devendra Fadnavis against Malik in connection with a suspicious land deal and the agency should be allowed to complete the investigation.