Rahul Gandhi questions PM Modi’s claim on electoral bond: report

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday called electoral bond ‘the biggest extortion scheme in the world’, countering PM Modi’s claim that it was introduced for transparency in political funding, Scroll reported.

Earlier in an interview with news agency ANI, PM Modi reportedly said his government introduced the scheme to bring transparency in political funding.

Subsequently, Rahul Gandhi told a press conference that the prime minister’s interview to news agency ANI was ‘scripted, but it was a flop show’.

Questioning PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi asked if the scheme was for transparency why the Supreme Court cancelled it.

Further, he asked if it was to bring transparency why the BJP had ‘hidden’ the names of its donors, adding “And why did you hide the dates on which they gave you the money?”.

Anyone could buy electoral bonds, introduced in 2018 by the BJP-led government, from the State Bank of India and give to a political party which they could redeem for money, according to the report.

Since buyers were not required to announce details of the interest-free bonds, political parties did not have to reveal the source of the money either.

The Centre, however, could access the details of the donors as the State Bank of India is under its control.

However, the Supreme Court in February cancelled the scheme terming it unconstitutional pointing out that it could lead to ‘quid pro quo relationships between donors and political parties’.

The court asked the bank to reveal the details of the donations that political parties received through the scheme.

Coming down heavily on the BJP, Rahul Gandhi said: ‘Contract worth thousands of crores is given to a company and immediately after that the company gives money to the BJP.’

Accusing the BJP of having misused the central agencies, Rahul said “CBI and ED inquiry starts against a company. In 10-15 days, the company gives crores of rupees to the BJP and the CBI and ED inquiry [against the company] stops. On the streets, it’s called extortion.”

However, PM Modi on Monday claimed that without electoral bonds scheme in place there would not have been any mechanism to find out who paid to which party, adding that ‘This is the success story of the electoral bonds.’

Countering the allegations over Central agencies, PM Modi said of the 3,000 companies that purchased electoral bonds, 26 donors were being probed by central agencies.

He reportedly said that of the 26 companies, ‘16 companies bought electoral bonds around the time that they were raided,” adding “From these electoral bonds, 37% of the money went to the Bharatiya Janata Party, while 63% went to the BJP’s opponents.”