New Delhi, Sep 27: A day after RSS-linked weekly "Panchjanya" dubbed Amazon as "East India Company 2.0", the Congress on Monday said whatever the Sangh says is irrelevant as it does not say anything in national interest, but in the interest of the ruling BJP.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, however, said the allegations against the US e-commerce giant are serious and cannot be ignored.
"The issue of Amazon is a serious one and it merits everybody's attention. The allegations against Amazon are very serious and they cannot be ignored," he said.
Asked about the comments of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Khera said, "What the RSS says about Amazon is irrelevant because there is a duet going on between the RSS and the BJP.
"We have seen that duet and they stand exposed in the farmers' agitation. We have seen the dubious role played by the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh as it has not come in support of the farmers even for one day in the last 10 months."
The Congress leader said "nobody takes what the RSS says seriously anymore, because they do not speak the language in national interest, they talk in the interest of the BJP."
Amazon was dubbed as "East India Company 2.0" by "Panchjanya", which has also alleged that the firm has paid crores of rupees in bribes for favourable government policies.
In its latest edition, which will hit the stands on October 3, the RSS-linked weekly has carried a cover story that is highly critical of Amazon.
"Whatever the East India Company did in the 18th century to capture India, the same is visible in the activities of Amazon," the article titled "East India Company 2.0" reads.
Claiming that Amazon wants to establish its monopoly in the Indian market, it says, "For doing so, it has started taking initiatives for seizing the economic, political and personal freedom of the Indian citizens."
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Alappuzha (Kerala) (PTI): The Congress on Friday sharply reacted to the Income Tax Department's notice to the grand old party to pay a penalty of over Rs 1,750 crore and said the officials were being used as the "gundas" of the ruling BJP.
Addressing the media here, AICC general secretary in-charge of the organisation, K C Venugopal, lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government and accused it of trying to "financially strangulate" the opposition parties during the election time.
Venugopal said the Modi government was trying to make the Congress party bankrupt.
The Income Tax Department has served a notice to the Congress to pay over Rs 1750 crore, hours after the Delhi High Court had rejected its petitions challenging the tax reassessment proceedings against it.
"Usually, the political parties are exempted from paying taxes. However, this penalty is in the name of delay in filing returns. The Narendra Modi government is doing this with the specific purpose of bankrupting the Congress party at a time when we are facing elections," Venugopal said.
He said a nationwide protest will be held tomorrow and the day after as the BJP was "exploiting" the central agencies to target the opposition parties.
"They are attacking the opposition parties using the government mechanism. This is a move to butcher democracy," Venugopal added.
He also claimed that the BJP too has not paid any returns, but they were safe from IT Department notices.
"Our accounts were freezed earlier and now our funds have been blocked. The BJP regime is exploiting the government machinery to target the main opposition party as they know that they will face a huge setback in the upcoming elections," he said.
Venugopal said as per the notice, the Congress has been asked to pay Rs 1076.35 crore as penalty and Rs 692 crore as interest.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday rejected petitions by the Congress challenging the initiation of tax reassessment proceedings against it for a period of four years by tax authorities.
The High Court said that the pleas were dismissed in terms of its earlier decision refusing to interfere with the opening of reassessment for another period.
The present matter pertained to the assessment years 2017 to 2021.
In the earlier petition, which was dismissed last week, the Congress party had challenged initiation of reassessment proceedings pertaining to the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17.
On March 22, the high court, while rejecting those pleas, said that the tax authority had prima facie collated "substantial and concrete" evidence warranting further scrutiny and examination.