Motilal Vora: Quintessential Congressman who knew how money came into party’s coffers and how it was spent

In his death, Sonia Gandhi lost a faithful ally who, like Ahmed Patel, knew the most fiercely guarded secrets of the grand old party.

The selective and perhaps inspired leak pertaining to a comment made by Rahul Gandhi, who is currently facing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into the Associated Journals Ltd -Young India case and the role of former AICC treasurer Motilal Vora is somewhat misleading and aimed at setting a pigeon among the cats.

Vora, a die-hard loyalist, now dead, was actively involved with AJL affairs. In fact, on January 25, 2008, a Friday, the employees' union and the then AICC treasurer Motilal Vora had signed an agreement declaring AJL group’s National Herald newspaper's closure. The print editions ceased on March 31, 2008.

The employees union had reminded Vora that India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, had been attached to the paper since he founded it in 1938 that he had declared: "I will not let the National Herald close down even if I have to sell Anand Bhavan (the family home in Allahabad)."

Vora’s brother Govindlal Vora, a reputed journalist and owner of Chhattisgarh-based Amrit Sandesh and Vishwabandhu Gupta, a former Congress member of the Rajya Sabha and one of the founder members of the Press Club of India (PCI) had played a key role in closure of the National Herald. Union Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Murli Deora too had assisted Vora in closing the protracted negotiations with the employees’ union.

In 2017, AJL tried to revive a defunct National Herald newspaper. On June 12, 2017, the then vice president Hamid Ansari released a commemorative edition of the newspaper National Herald in Bengaluru as part of its relaunch. The invites were issued by Vora, who was the AICC treasurer and also chairman of Associated Journals Ltd. Well Placed sources recall that there was a move to invite the then union information and broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu, his deputy Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, L.K Advani and other BJP stalwarts but it was shelved at the last moment.

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A spotlight and a quick recap on Motilal Vora is required. As I have mentioned in my latest book, “Leaders, Politicians and Citizens'' [Hachette 2022], Vora was in the league of a select band of Congress leaders [Ahmed Patel, Sushil Kumar Shinde and A K Antony] who wouldn’t share party secrets with even their spouses or children. For him, loyalty towards the NehruGandhi family was absolute and non-negotiable.