Modi defends Electoral Bonds scheme; ‘helped govt extort money,’ says Cong
PM says an interview it's only because of bonds that source of funding and beneficiaries can be traced
In an effort to defend the Electoral Bonds scheme that his government introduced and which the Supreme Court recently struck down, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was because of the bonds that the source of the funding and their beneficiaries could now be traced.
In an interview with Thanthi TV that was aired on Sunday (March 31), Modi said, “Nothing is perfect. Imperfections can be addressed.”
He said those who were protesting against the electoral bonds would soon regret it.
“Tell me what have we done that I should see it as a setback? I firmly believe that those dancing over it (bond details) and taking pride in it are going to repent,” he said.
If a trail is available today, it is because of the presence of bonds, he said, asking if any agency can tell about the sources of funding and their beneficiaries for the polls before 2014, the year he came to power.
"No system is perfect. There can be shortcomings which could be improved upon," he said.
PM has lied to the nation: Congress
Lashing out at the prime minister for defending the scheme, the Congress claimed that while the alleged corruption of his government had been known for a while, the setback is that there are now "hard numbers to prove it".
“Every single day the prime minister scales new heights of hypocrisy and plumbs new depths of dishonesty,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.
“The prime minister has fully lied to the nation in his latest interview to a Tamil television channel. He claims that 'where funds have come from, how they are being used' is only known due to the Electoral Bond Scheme instituted by him," Ramesh said and put forward "relevant facts".
"The Electoral Bond Scheme was designed to be fully anonymous. In other words, Modi wanted to hide from the public the details of 'where funds have come from (to political parties), and how they are being used," he alleged.
For six years, between 2018 and 2024, not a single detail of which party got funds from which donor was revealed to the public, Ramesh said in a post on X.
‘Modi govt tried to defend scheme’s anonymity’
In 2024, the Supreme Court intervened to reject the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional. Up until the last day in court, the Modi government tried to defend the anonymity of the scheme, the Congress leader said.
Finally, the Supreme Court demanded that the SBI publish the details of who donated to which party, he noted.
"Still, the remote-controlled SBI lied to the court, saying it did not collect this information. Then, it requested three months' time to collate the data, conveniently seeking an extension until after the election. It was only the Supreme Court's strong intervention that forced the SBI to release the data publicly within days," Ramesh said.
He alleged that the SBI was lying in the Supreme Court when it demanded a three-month extension to match donor data with the political parties.
"It took our team five lines of Python code and less than fifteen seconds to match each donor with the political party they donated to," he said.
"As for the prime minister’s question of 'what have I done that I should face a setback (due to Electoral Bonds)?' Mr. Modi, the data has revealed your party and Government's monumental corruption," Ramesh alleged.
‘Centre reduced to supermarket’
“₹4 lakh crores worth of contracts, projects, and environmental clearances can be linked to thousands of crores in electoral bond donations made by corporate donors to your party. The Government of India has been reduced to a supermarket – 'Chanda Do, Dhanda Lo'," he said.
"At least 40 ED/IT/CBI raids on firms have been followed by hefty electoral bond donations by these firms to the BJP. The prime minister and his cronies have been engaged in a systematic 'hafta vasuli'," Ramesh alleged.
"The corruption of the Modi Sarkar has been known for a while now; the setback is that there are now hard numbers to prove it. Unfortunately, we can expect the prime minister to continue his full-time job of lying to the Indian people to cover it up," the Congress leader said.
Court order
On February 15, the Supreme Court termed as unconstitutional the electoral bonds scheme that was introduced in 2018, and directed the State Bank of India and the Election Commission of India to disclose details of all the bonds that were purchased and encashed since April 2019.
The ruling BJP was revealed to be the biggest beneficiary of funds from corporates through this scheme, and the opposition parties have been protesting about the connection between raids by central enforcement agencies on corporates and the donation of bonds by those companies to the BJP.
(With agency inputs)
