Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in-charge communications, on Wednesday launched a blistering attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of electoral bonds. He alleged that the Modi government through the State Bank of India (SBI) has tried to avoid or delay revealing information about the donations received by political parties and their sources.
Ramesh's attack on the Centre came a day after the SBI, in keeping with the Supreme Court's March 11 order to furnish information on entities that purchased the now-scrapped electoral bonds and political parties which received them, provided the Election Commission of India (ECI) with the details of the same.
"Since the Supreme Court verdict which declared electoral bonds as unconstitutional on February 15, 2024, the Modi Government- through the SBI- has consistently tried to halt or delay the revelation of who donated how much 'chanda' to which political party," Ramesh said in a lengthy post on X formerly Twitter.
"What is the Prime Minister so scared of and what new scam will the electoral bonds data reveal?" he asked. The senior Congress leader further claimed in his post that the BJP got Rs 335 crore in donations from 30 companies on February 20 this year.
"On February 20, 2024, it was revealed that the BJP got a bonanza of Rs 335 crore in donations from 30 companies, immediately after they had been raided or investigated by the ED, CBI or IT department. Why did these firms donate to the BJP immediately after being raided?" Ramesh questioned.
Ramesh furthermore said He also asked why did the BJP accept Rs 4.9 crore in donations from 4 SEBI-designated shell companies. "Whose black money was being routed to the BJP through these companies?" he said.
Is the BJP intimidating these firms through the threat of ED-CBI-IT investigations to extort donations from them, he asked. The data given to the Election Commission on electoral bonds purchased and redeemed is between April 14, 2019 and February 15, 2024.
As per the top court's order, the ECI will have to publish these details on its official website by 5 pm on March 15. The SBI sought time till June 30 for disclosure of the details in a recent plea, which was rejected by the top court.
Moreover, Ramesh also questioned that why is the Centre freezing Congress accounts and resorting to "tax terrorism." He also alleged that the BJP received undisclosed corporate money worth around Rs 6,000 crore via the electoral bonds scheme without any restrictions.
Ramesh said: "Why is the Modi government so afraid of the Congress Party that it has to resort to account freezing and tax terrorism? Why have the Congress Party's bank accounts containing money donated by common Indians been frozen, while Rs 6,000 crore of undisclosed corporate money received by the BJP through the unconstitutional electoral bond scam has been used without any restrictions? can be done?"