New Delhi: Corruption is one of the key battlefields of politics today. In the fierce sniping from both sides, however, facts aren’t the only weapon. So is hypocrisy, deception and even white lies, the Opposition charged today.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi trying to portray the discredited electoral bond scheme as a transparent way of political funding, without acknowledging any wrongdoing despite incriminating evidence triggering allegations of quid pro quo and extortion, the Congress confronted him with full force, pointing to what it said was his dishonesty in hiding and misrepresenting facts.
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh issued a statement soon after the telecast of Modi’s interview with news agency ANI on almost every TV channel, saying, “Every day the Prime Minister scales new heights of hypocrisy and plumbs new depths of dishonesty. Two weeks ago, while speaking to Thanti TV, he claimed that ‘where funds have come from, how they are being used’ is only known due to the BJP’s electoral bonds scheme. Today, in his latest interview, he claimed that “when electoral Bonds were in use, the public had access to the money trail – which company donated, to whom they donated, and how they donated.’ This is a bold faced lie.”
Transparency campaigners say there can be no dispute that the scheme, described by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional, was an assault on the principle of transparency as the government alone knew the details of donors and donations while the entire country, including the opposition parties, were in the dark. That the government’s top law officers and the State Bank of India tried their best to conceal the information, drawing scathing rebukes from the Supreme Court, is also part of the public record.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s politically embarrassing judgment, Modi has tried to argue that his government’s sole intention was to eliminate the role of black money and that his insistence on routing donations through banking channels is the only reason that records of the resulting transactions are available today.
What this claim ignores is that there is no evidence that cash donations (involving black money) have ended, that insisting on donations through banking channels did not require anonymity and that the bonds themselves were effectively tradeable on a de facto secondary market and may well have changed hands between private donors before finally being deposited.
Rahul Gandhi reacted to Modi’s claims on Monday by also alleging that many of the donations to the ruling BJP bore the hallmarks of corruption: “If you see the name of the donor and date of donation, you will know they got the contract soon after they purchased electoral bonds or the inquiry against them stopped. The Prime Minister was caught and hence he gave this interview to ANI. I am telling you, he has been found out. This is the biggest extortion scheme of the world and Narendra Modi is its mastermind. If you look into his eyes – I haven’t actually seen – during the interview, you will see that glimpse. Tell the Prime Minister to explain this – the CBI enquiry starts and just after that the BJP gets money and the enquiry stops. Let him explain this first. Second, contracts worth thousands of crore are awarded to companies immediately after they pay to the BJP through electoral bonds. This also the Prime Minister needs to explain to us. The truth is, it is extortion and Modi has done it.”
The statement issued by Jairam Ramesh said, “Before electoral bonds were announced, individuals and corporations had to report political donations greater than Rs 20,000. After the scheme was implemented, donors faced no obligations to report donations and political parties faced no obligation to disclose donor identities. The electoral bond scheme was designed to be fully anonymous. In other words, Modi wanted to hide the details of ‘where funds have come from [to political parties], and how they are being used.’ For six years, between 2018 and 2024, not a single detail was revealed to the public about who donated funds and to which political party. This continued until February 15, 2024, when the Supreme Court rejected electoral bonds as unconstitutional. Up until the last day in court, the Modi Sarkar defended the anonymity of the scheme.”
Recalling how the SBI behaved in court, Ramesh added: “The anonymity of electoral bonds allowed the Prime Minister to cover up four patterns of corruption he has engaged in, with the total sums amounting to Rs 4 lakh crore: 1. Prepaid Bribes: Chanda Do, Dhanda Lo 2. Postpaid Bribes: Theka Lo, Rishvat Do 3. Post-raid Bribes: Hafta Vasooli i.e. Extortion 4. Farzi Company i.e. Shell Companies. By creating this anonymous electoral bonds scheme, the Prime Minister reduced the Government of India to a supermarket where he can facilitate business in return for donations to the BJP.
“Rather than deceiving people, the PM should answer the following questions on his involvement in electoral bond-related corruption: Did you not allow pharmaceutical companies to distribute counterfeit medicines, potentially leading to the death of numerous Indians, in exchange for electoral bonds? Did you not grant contracts to corrupt companies, resulting in numerous collapses of tunnels, bridges, and other infrastructure, after taking the electoral bonds from them? Did your government not coerce companies into donating to your party through electoral bonds after deploying agencies like the ED, CBI, and IT after them? Were not government policies changed to favour specific companies in certain sectors after they purchased electoral bonds?”
