The Congress on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "silence" on the allegations made by CBI DIG M K Sinha in the plea submitted before the Supreme Court and said it is an insult to democracy and an affront to the nation's collective intelligence.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the allegations made by the CBI official has left Modi's anti-corruption plank in tatters and have opened a Pandora's box. The opposition party said it has pinned its hopes on the Supreme Court that it will "fix this mess".
There was no immediate reaction by the government or the BJP on the charges.
Singhvi said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government as usual have maintained a maun vrat' (vow of silence) on the entire petition. This silence has gone on for too long and we will not stand for it. The protracted silence of the current dispensation is an insult to our democracy which mandates a government to be transparent in its dealings.
"This silence of the BJP, broken only by outlandish blog posts or press conferences by their Union Ministers who are in no way connected to the matter at hand, is an affront to the collective intelligence of the nation."
"The situation turns even direr as the days go by, with more facts being unearthed every single day, this just seems to be a Pandora's Box, but much like the proverbial story of Pandora, we believe that the SC will be our hope to fix this mess," he told reporters.
Singhvi alleged that a "corrupt syndicate is ruling the top echelons of power" and the "corruption tsunami has taken the winds out of the sails of PM Modi's anti-corruption boat".
He claimed the PM Modi is "visibly rattled and upset" and this is evident in his rallies.
He claimed the "affidavit" of M K Sinha "has blown the lid off the nefarious dealings of individuals in the premier investigation agency of the central government".
"What is however deafening is the silence of the Modi Government in this regard. They have been silent earlier and are silent now," he said.
"Sinha's sworn affidavit has conclusively exposed the underbelly of this government and destroyed any expectation of fair play from PM Modi's leadership. It is intriguing that, nobody in the Government or the officials or ministers that have been named or mentioned in the affidavit has spoken a syllable to defend themselves," he said.
The Congress leader alleged that the Modi Government, which is seeking to enforce the 'Gujarat model' to deal with bureaucrats, senior officers and treat them as their "puppets", did not realize their "deliberate denigration in undermining the authority of the CBI that would now reach the doorsteps of the Prime Minister".
The party referred to allegations made by M K Sinha against NSA Ajit Doval, Union Minister Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary and CVC K V Chowdhury.
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