Electoral Bonds Issue: What Is PM So Scared Of, Asks Congress

On Wednesday, March 13, the Congress attacked PM Narendra Modi over the electoral bonds issue, alleging that his government, through the SBI, has consistently tried to halt or delay the revelation of who has donated how much to which political party.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in-charge communications, said “surprisingly” the prime minister is grounded in New Delhi on Wednesday and not travelling around the country for new “inaugurations”, for rebranding, or for claiming credit for past work.

Ramesh put forward some questions for the PM, in a post on X, saying that he should give answers about the most basic responsibilities of his government.

Ramesh alleged, “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.”

He asked what the Prime Minister is so scared of and what new scam will the electoral bonds data reveal. Ramesh said, “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?”

He asked if the BJP is intimidating these firms through the threat of ED-CBI-IT investigations to extort donations from them. Ramesh’s broadside against the government came a day after the State Bank of India (SBI) submitted to the Election Commission the details of entities which had purchased the now-scrapped electoral bonds and political parties which received them, as it complied with the Supreme Court order to furnish information.

The order states that the Election Commission will have to publish the details shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on 15 March. The SBI had sought time till 30 June for disclosure of the details. Its plea was, however, rejected by the apex court.

Ramesh, in his post, also asked why did the BJP “accept Rs 4.9 crore in donations from four ESBI-designated shell companies?”

He asked, “Whose black money was routed to the BJP through these companies?”

Ramesh further said that according to the manual of Parliamentary Affairs, and all established norms of government, rules to any Act are to be framed within six months of its passage. He attacked the BJP over the government notifying rules four years after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, was passed by Parliament.

Ramesh asked, “Why has it taken four years and three months for the Modi Sarkar to frame rules to the Citizenship Amendment Act? Why have the rules conveniently come out just on the eve of a Lok Sabha election?”

He also asked how did things get to a point where, on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections, India has only one serving Election Commissioner rather than three. He noted that the smooth functioning of the institutions of democracy is the first and most important priority of a government.

Ramesh wanted to know why did Election Commissioner Arun Goel resign so abruptly and asked why the Modi government is so afraid of the Congress Party that it has to resort to “Khata Bandi and tax terrorism”.

Asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his “silence” on these issues, Ramesh said, “Why have the Congress Party’s bank accounts – with funds donated by ordinary Indians – been frozen, while over Rs. 6,000 crore in anonymous corporate money given to the BJP through the unconstitutional electoral bonds scam is freely usable?”