Prime Minister Modi said that the rationale behind bringing in the electoral bonds scheme was to curb the use of black money and ensure transparency of funding in elections
He said that previously, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to receive political donations via cheques but businessmen and business houses objected to this
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that those who are questioning the government over the now-scrapped electoral bonds scheme for political funding will regret it. The Prime Minister mentioned that while he never said a decision cannot have shortcomings, he blasted the opposition parties for “spreading lies” over the issue.
On February 15 this year, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme, calling it “unconstitutional.” The top court said that this scheme of political funding violated the right to information of citizens and impacted free speech and expression.
While elaborating on the scheme, the Prime Minister told news agency ANI in an interview that the rationale behind bringing in the electoral bonds scheme was to curb the use of black money and ensure transparency of funding in elections.
He said that previously, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to receive political donations via cheques but businessmen and business houses objected to this, saying that the government would find out how much they had contributed to the opposition parties and would “trouble them.”
Looking back at the challenges the BJP faced in the 1990s, the PM told news agency ANI: “I remember during the elections in the 90s, we had a lot of problems. We didn’t have money. And we had a rule that we will take with cheque. They were ready to give, but they didn’t have the courage to do so.”
The Prime Minister also elaborated on how the electoral bonds scheme provided a trail of which company contributed to which political parties and where.
“Whether what happened in the process was good or bad can be an issue of debate…. I never say that there is no shortcoming in decision-making. We learn after discussing and improve. There is a lot of scope of improvement in this also. But today we have completely pushed the country towards black money, hence, I say everyone will regret it. When they will think honestly, everyone will regret it,” he said.
The Prime Minister further said those who are commenting against the scheme right now had supported it when there was a debate. He added out of the 3,000 companies that brought electoral bonds, 26 companies are facing the heat of central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate.
He added of these 26 companies, 16 brought electoral bonds when they faced action. “Of these (16 companies), 37 per cent of the amount went to the BJP and 63 per cent to opposition parties opposed to BJP,” PM Modi said.
Rahul Gandhi on electoral bonds scheme
The Prime Minister’s defence of the electoral bonds scheme did not go down well with Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP from Wayanad. The Gandhi scion claimed that PM Modi was the mastermind of the electoral bonds “scam” and is now giving interviews after being “caught”.
“This is the biggest extortion scheme of the world and PM Modi is the mastermind of it. Ask the PM to explain that one day CBI inquiry starts and immediately after that they (the BJP) get the money. And immediately after that, the CBI inquiry is scrapped. Big contracts, infrastructure contracts — the company gives money and immediately after that they are given the contract,” the Congress leader said.
Dr Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP and candidate from Thiruvananthapuram, said that the BJP will repent repealing the scheme because it reveals extortion and corruption. “So he suggests that you will repent repealing it or repent scrapping it? It is precisely the BJP will repent because it reveals both extortion and corruption,” Dr Tharoor said.
Top purchasers of electoral bonds
The top donor was Future Gaming And Hotel Services with Rs 1,368 crore, of which 37 per cent went to Tamil Nadu’s ruling party DMK. The second highest was Megha Engineering And Infrastructure Ltd with Rs 980 crore worth donation.
Future Gaming is reportedly owned by Santiago Martin, a lottery king from South India, Megha Engineering, which builds dams and power projects, is owned by PV Krishna Reddy and PP Reddy.
Other donors included Grasim Industries, Megha Engineering, Torrent Power, Bharti Airtel, DLF Commercial Developers, Vedanta Ltd., Apollo Tyres, Lakshmi Mittal, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wine, Welspun, Sun Pharma, and others.
Recipients of funds through electoral bonds include BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JDS, NCP, Trinamool Congress, JDU, RJD, AAP, SP. The BJP received the maximum funds through these bonds at Rs 6,986.5 crore since they were introduced in 2018, followed by West Bengal’s ruling party Trinamool Congress (Rs 1,397 crore), Congress (Rs 1,334 crore) and BRS (Rs 1,322 crore).
Odisha’s ruling party BJD was the fourth largest recipient at Rs 944.5 crore followed by DMK at Rs 656.5 crore and Andhra Pradesh’s ruling party YSR Congress redeemed bonds worth nearly Rs 442.8 crore. Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s JD(S) received electoral bonds worth Rs 89.75 crore, including Rs 50 crore from Megha Engineering.
The TDP redeemed bonds worth Rs 181.35 crore, Shiv Sena Rs 60.4 crore, RJD 56 crore, Samajwadi Party got Rs 14.05 crore via electoral bonds, Akali Dal Rs 7.26 crore, AIADMK Rs 6.05 crore, National Conference Rs 50 lakh.
