In an interview to Thanthi TV, PM Narendra Modi dismissed the opposition’s charge that the agencies were targeting only non-BJP leaders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that central agencies function independently, and dismissed the opposition’s charge against the BJP-led Centre of ‘misusing’ agencies, who, opposition parties say, take action only against non-BJP leaders.

The Prime Minister further said that of all the cases that the ED is currently investigating, ‘less than 3%’ are related to politics.

“Currently, the ED has around 7000 cases, of which less than 3% involve politicians. During their (the opposition) 10-year rule, the amount of money seized was only ₹35 lakh. On the other hand, we have seized ₹2200 crore,” he stated.

On the opposition’s allegations that agencies were taking action only against people not from the ruling BJP, the PM stated that the Enforcement Directorate’s procedure to initiate a case is the same, ‘regardless of who was in power.’

“Regardless of the party, the process is the same. The ED cannot initiate any case on its own; various department need to file the cases first, then the ED takes action. The PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) law has existed since before, but they (opposition) did not use it. Over 150 court cases were filed to exempt the PMLA law, and they even went to the Supreme Court to remove or retain an officer. They used the judiciary as a weapon because they know Modi’s actions against corruption won’t stop. They think they can stop these organisations through the courts,” he remarked.

The saffron party is also accused of getting cases against opposition leaders closed, if they jump ship to the BJP. Opposition parties, therefore, often taunt the BJP by calling it a ‘washing machine’ party.

On January 31, then-Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested by ED in connection with an alleged land mining scam. On March 21, it arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the excise policy case.