Scam – ‘National Herald' experiment

Time of India

21-04-2025

Keshav Upadhye, a young, dynamic and prominent face, has been working with the Bharatiya Janata Party for over two decades. In 2014, the then state president Devendra Fadnavis had appointed Upadhye as the spokesperson in his team. Owing to his journalistic background and better understanding of the socio-economic issues of the state, Upadhye made a mark as a spokesperson in a short span. He articulates the views of the party and aggressively defends the party on various platforms including the Marathi and Hindi national news channels. Keshav Upadhye worked for the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and after completing his degree in Journalism from Ranade Institute, Pune, he began his career as a journalist with daily Pudhari, Loksatta and Mumbai Tarun Bharat. Knowing the pulse of the news, he writes on varied topics and on various platforms like the newspapers, blogs and other social media platforms. He was involved in two study groups formed by the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini in 2006 to study the naxalite movement and its adverse impact on the development of Chhatisgarh. The Prabodhini later published this report. He was also a part of the Prabodhini's fact-finding committee formed to study the Solapur riots. LESS ... MORE
The Enforcement Directorate has recently filed a chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in connection with its investigation into money laundering in alleged National Herald case. Congress played theatrics of agitation on this. Congress leaders also cried of vendetta. Forget about the common man, but even many congress office bearers and leaders are not aware of National Herald deal, the fraud in the case and the legal complexities involved in this case. So, it is important to know the history of National Herald newspaper since its foundation.
In 1937 Jawaharlal Nehru started this newspaper to express the voice of Congress workers fighting against the British by collecting the share capital from 5 thousand workers fighting in the freedom struggle. This newspaper was published by a company called Associated Journals Limited. This company was no one's personal property.
Qaumi Awaz in Urdu and Navjeevan in Hindi were the other two newspapers published by Associated Journals Limited. National Herald played an important role in raising voice against the British. This newspaper was also instrumental in conveying the voice of freedom fighters to the common man. Congress's stance, goals and policies on various issues were conveyed to the public through this newspaper. Jawaharlal Nehru himself used to write editorials for National Herald.
The British government banned its publication in 1942 because of the constant criticism of the British. This ban was lifted in 1945. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru resigned as president of Associated Journals Limited in 1947 after becoming the Prime Minister. National Herald became known as the mouthpiece of the Congress after independence. M. Chalapathi Rau, during his tenure as an editor, maintained good standard of all three newspapers i.e. National Herald, Navjeevan and Qaumi Awaz.
Despite being the mouthpieces of the Congress, all three newspapers became topic of discussion in political and media circles. Congress was in power at the Centre and in most of the States after independence. Therefore, these newspapers constantly had government backing. National Herald received large space at a discounted rate to start an edition in Delhi. Many states had given spaces for this newspaper at rates as low as Re 1 or Rs 2 per square meter. Apart from Delhi, space was also given in Mumbai and Lucknow for this newspaper. National Herald was given spaces across 100 locations in the country. Immovable assets of Associated Journals Limited went on increasing gradually.
Over the period of time, the financial management of these newspapers started falling apart. The management decided to permanently close this daily in 2008. The Congress had given an interest-free loan of 90.25 crore to Associated Journals Limited till then. But whether a political party can provide an interest free loan to a private company is the crux of the matter in this case.
In 2008, Associated Journals Limited had total net assets amounting to Rs 2000 crores worth of market value. The financial transactions were only between the Congress and Associated Journals Limited until then. The Nehru-Gandhi family had no connection with the company's financial transaction until this time.
A company called Young Indian Limited was established in 2010 and Gandhi family entered the scene. The share capital of Young Indian was only Rs.5 lakh. Sonia and Rahul had a share of 38 percent each, making a total of 76 percent. It was said that Young Indian was founded for the noble cause of spreading religious equality among the youth of the country. There is no information available on how far the company was successful in achieving its goal. Anyways. The issue was about the financial transaction between Young Indian and Associated Journals Limited.
In December 2010, Congress informed Associated Journals Limited that the company should pay back only Rs 50 lakh out of the due amount of Rs 90.25 crore and give the remaining Rs. 89.75 crore to Young Indian. Which means the Congress itself let go of its own due income of Rs 89.75 crore. This amount got credited in the name of the Gandhi family i.e. the Young Indian Company. The real scam began after that. Associated Journals Limited converted the loan worth Rs 89.75 crore into shares in its book of accounts. 99 percent of total capital of Associated Journals Limited was in these shares.
As a result, the entire control of Associated Journals Limited went to the Young Indian Company. Young Indian Company became the owner of Associated Journals Limited's assets of Rs 2000 crore. Now the value of this property is said to be more than Rs 5000 crore. This was a corporate conspiracy designed to hand over the huge assets of Associated Journals Limited to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The loan of Rs 90 crore given by the Congress to Associated Journals Limited was written off by paying only Rs 50 lakh. Which means the assets worth Rs 5000 crore got transferred to the Gandhi family for just Rs 50 lakh.
The Congress had given an interest-free loan of Rs 90 crore to Associated Journals Limited, which was running the newspaper as National Herald was making losses. On paper the Gandhi family was not at all associated with this. The accounts showed that Rs 29 crore was received in the form of advertisements after the transfer of the ownership of this newspaper to Young Indian. The names of heirs of 5,000 freedom fighters who contributed to National Herald were totally missing.
The consent of the original shareholders was required to transfer the ownership of Associated Journals Limited to Young Indian. However no such consent was taken. There is a mention in the company's account of a donation of Rs 18 crore. However, it does not appear that the company has spent a single rupee on social work as per its objective.
The Gandhi family and sidekicks of the family are creating all the fuss after this scam was exposed. Neither the Gandhi family nor any Congress leader has been able to answer any of the issues mentioned in the chargesheet satisfactorily. It is awaited to see how the Gandhi family will respond, once this scam is exposed during the court hearing.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.