Yogendra Yadav said the tax raids were a standard tactic of silencing opposition.
Highlights
- Yogendra Yadav accuses centre of targeting his family to intimidate him
- "A clear attempt to intimidate. Modiji you can't silence me," he says
- Says raids may be linked to campaign he led for better prices for farmers
Yogendra Yadav, the psephologist-turned-politician today accused the centre of targeting his family to intimidate him after income tax authorities raided a hospital run by his sisters in Haryana’s Rewari this morning.
Mr Yadav said the raids appeared to be linked to a campaign for better prices for farmers that he had been lead.
In a series of tweets, Mr Yadav said more than 100 personnel from Delhi turned up at the hospital, detained his relatives and sealed the hospital.
An eminent psephologist, Yogendra Yadav founded Swaraj India and Jai Kisan Andolan after exiting the Aam Aadmi Party in 2015 and has been trying to mobilise farmers. He said his nine-day march to mobilise farmers had angered the ruling BJP government.
"A clear attempt to intimidate. Modiji you can't silence me," he said.
Jawahar Yadav of the BJP has rejected the allegation.
"The (tax) department has done its work... This has nothing to do with Yogendra Yadav's yatra," he told NDTV.
Yogendra Yadav said it appeared to be too much of a coincidence that his sister's hospitals were raided just 36 hours after his visit and the campaign.
"Isn't it a curious coincidence that within 48 hours, they find one place where something needs to be raided... This is exactly what used to happen during Emergency," he said, accusing the centre of using the tax department and the Enforcement Directorate to target political opponents.
"PM Modi is very nervous about farmers. This is one issue that worries him the most today and since we are one of the voices there, we are being targeted," Yogendra Yadav told NDTV.
Haryana Congress leader Deepender Hooda tweeted his support to Mr Yadav, saying he had always heard good things about his family in Rewari. "It is uncalled for," he said about the raids.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan credited Yogendra Yadav with spearheading and coordinating the farmers movement in the country, which he said, "has shaken the government".