NEW DELHI: The Congress targeted the central government on Saturday over the CBI summons to former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik, saying it is intended to send out a message to him and all those speaking the truth to remain silent.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that though the summons itself is not surprising, what has come as a surprise is that the "vengeful" act came 10 days after he raised relevant and pertinent questions related to national security.
"We don't know why it took 10 days for the prime minister. Normally he is very prompt in silencing his critics. What did Satya Pal Malik do? He asked some very relevant, very pertinent questions...related to national security," he told reporters.
The CBI has asked Malik to answer certain queries in connection with an alleged insurance scam in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Friday.
This is the second time in seven months that Malik will be questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
He was questioned in October last year after he concluded his gubernatorial responsibilities in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa and Meghalaya.
Khera said Malik had pointed to the prime minister in a telephonic conversation that the Pulwama terrorist attack on February 14, 2019 was due to a security lapse, "but the prime minister asked him to keep quiet".
"The CBI summons yesterday to Satya Pal Malik are a reiteration of the same advice which the prime minister gave to him on the evening of 14th February, 2019. Mr. Satya Pal Malik, this time, is being asked to keep quiet, however the messenger is the CBI," Khera said.
"This message is not being given to Satya Pal Malik alone, but to all those who are not paid and are neither scared of raids while raising their voice for truth...Those who have the courage to ask questions of the government and the power, such people are being threatened that if they open their mouth like Malik, they will also see the CBI come knocking at their doors," he alleged.
The Congress leader said it is ironic that the CBI is knocking at the door of the whistleblower and not the person accused by Malik of indulging in malpractices.
"We don't know whether Mr. Ram Madhav has been summoned by the CBI" after Malik alleged that he was involved in corruption, Khera said.
Madhav has strongly rejected the charge.
"The CBI has already thoroughly investigated the matter. I will be filing defamation charges against the peddlers of these false allegations very soon," the RSS leader said.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared his letter to the CBI chief asking for summoning Home Minister Amit Shah after he made a statement before the Meghalaya assembly polls suggesting that the state government was the "most corrupt"
"Satya Pal Malik has just been summoned by CBI apparently on his charges of insurance scams in J&K and on his being offered bribes to clear files. But why is CBI still not summoning Home Minister on his charge that Meghalaya was running the most corrupt government," Ramesh said on Twitter while sharing his letter to the CBI director in March.