‘Financial terrorism; Centre stealing our money’: Congress accuses

New Delhi: The Congress party accused the Union government of imposing “financial terrorism” to undermine the party’s chances in the Lok Sabha elections. Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said that the Centre forced banks to transfer Rs 65 core from Congress’ accounts to the government, The Indian Express reported.

Ramesh also alleged that the Centre implemented demonetization in 2016 to cripple SP, BSP and Congress ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 2017.

Ramesh claimed that the Modi government is feeling unsettled about the Congress Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, farmers' agitation, and the heightened unemployment in the country. Therefore, the government is playing the politics of humiliation, showing vendetta against his party.

According to another allegation by him, the Modi-led Centre used central agencies against 30 private companies and threatened them to donate Rs 335 crore in the last three years.

General Secretary of Congress KC Venugopal also brought up the government asking banks to transfer Congress’s 65 crore. He said the Centre is stealing the party’s money over “very non-serious” matters.

According to him, the Centre is denying the Opposition parties the minimum level of playing field in the Lok Sabha polls, which is a clear attack on democratic values and principles. The BJP government is trying to shut down the voice of the entire Opposition, which is a low-level attack and has never happened before in the history of the country. BJP is taking the world’s largest democracy to a “dictatorship-raj”, Venugopal said.

According to Congress party treasurer Ajay Maken, the party’s funds were stolen by the government from five banks through demand drafts. The money includes Rs 4.2 crore belonging to the Youth Congress, Rs 1.20 crore of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), and Rs 60 crore of the AICC, he said.