In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over electoral bonds, the Congress on Wednesday called the bonds a “political extortion” and demanded an immediate statement from the government in the ongoing session of Parliament.
It alleged that the bonds were “bribery bonds” that resulted in money laundering and destroyed transparency of political funding.
At a press conference, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad; his deputy, Anand Sharma; and the Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, targetted Mr. Modi for effecting changes to the electoral bond scheme despite opposition from the Reserve Bank of India and the Election Commission of India
“The subject that we are talking about today directly leads to the Prime Minister's Office [PMO],” said Mr. Azad, referring to reports that claimed that the Finance Ministry opened additional payment windows (period when these bonds can be purchased and given to political parties) after being asked by the PMO.
“We have always said that a handful of businessmen are behind the Union government. The country’s 90 per cent businesses are run by friends of the BJP, and with their help, this BJP government runs here,” alleged Mr. Azad
File notings obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) have now clearly ‘shown’ that to be the case as PMO itself asked the rules to be changed, he said.
“The whole scheme rests on three premise: the donor’s identity is completely hidden, the political party doesn’t have to declare the name of the donor and there is no limit to how much a donor can pay a political party,” said Mr Azad. The RBI had pointed out that money laundering would be encouraged by this scheme, he added.
‘Political bribery’
Mr. Sharma said the bonds amounted to “political bribery” and it was a “political scandal that has tarnished the image of Indian democracy”.
“Our demand is that the Prime Minister must intervene and the government must disclose full donor information, who donated crores to the BJP coffers, and place this information before Parliament”, he stated.
Mr.. Chowdhury said, “No wonder the government is going after the right to information (RTI) Act”. The Congress would raise it on the floor of the House.
Asked if there would be a demand for a joint parliamentary committee, Mr. Azad said, “First let's see what the government comes up with and then we will decide”.
