Under fire, BJP asks Opposition parties why they accepted funds through electoral bonds

More than a month after the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme and called it unconstitutional, the ruling BJP has defended the scheme and questioned why the Opposition parties accepted funds in the first place if members of the INDIA bloc were against the scheme.

Senior BJP leaders pointed out that while Congress was using the SC verdict as a ploy to target the BJP-led NDA before the Lok Sabha elections, none of the INDIA bloc partners refused to accept the money from the donors for the past five years. “They are not even willing to return funds to the donors now.”

‘Don’t take moral high ground’

“The money received through electoral bonds is not illegal or black money. We must remember that the money was donated to political parties through bonds taken from SBI. Now that questions are being asked by the Supreme Court, even the BJP will answer all the queries. We are not shying away. However, if Congress was so principled, why did it accept money through electoral bonds in the first place? Since Congress is so critical of the scheme, I want to ask them why don’t the party and its allies donate the money received through electoral bonds,” wondered senior Karnataka BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Lahar Singh Siroya while talking to The Federal.

BJP leaders further elaborated that the idea to start the electoral bond scheme in the country was first conceived because of corruption allegations faced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) before the 2014 general elections

“Congress should not try to take a moral high ground now because it does not suit them or any member of the INDIA alliance. The process of the electoral bond scheme was initiated by the BJP government because we wanted to clean up the process of political funding, and that is why electoral bonds were issued by the SBI,” Siroya added.

‘Question DMK, TMC too’

With BJP facing the heat over the electoral bond scheme, senior leaders have come forward to defend the party and not to let the Opposition create the perception that there was any quid pro quo in the decision making process of the government.

The BJP leaders are of the view that while the Congress leadership was attacking the BJP on the issue, it should also question its own alliance partners like DMK in Tamil Nadu and Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

“The BJP is a big party with presence across India. We are in power in 16 states of the country. But how is it that Trinamool Congress, which is ruling only one state, has received over Rs 1,300 crore. The Congress leadership should also question if there was quid pro quo or not?” said Siroya.

“The Congress has been calling BJP the names. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi if he can question the DMK, which received nearly 77 percent of the money from a lottery king,” he added.

RSS comes to BJP’s rescue

To further consolidate the position of the BJP, the RSS leadership too joined in the debate to support the intent of the Union government.

Speaking to media after Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) meeting in Nagpur, RSS leaders backed the BJP government and said that the electoral bond scheme was an experiment.

“Electoral bonds are an experiment and it has been done with checks and balances. The scheme was not introduced suddenly, and questions are always raised when something is introduced,” said RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale.

Opposition on weak wicket

Political analysts feel the issue of the electoral bonds could have helped the Opposition parties corner the BJP-led Union government in the upcoming general elections.

“The problem with the Opposition is that it has been critical of the electoral bond scheme, yet they have accepted funds through it. If the Opposition had taken a strong stand since the beginning that they oppose it and will not accept electoral bonds, then it would have helped. But now that almost all political parties have accepted money through electoral bonds, it is unlikely to play an important role in the 2024 general elections,” Abhay Kumar Dubey, professor at Centre for Study of Developing Societies told The Federal.

Dubey also said that the Opposition parties will benefit from the issue only if they are able to come up with a watertight case of quid pro quo against the BJP.