Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s big claim that no corruption charge has ever tarnished his government lies in tatters after the Supreme Court declared the electoral bonds scheme ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional’.
The anti-corruption plank is dramatically slipping from under Modi’s feet as revelations about the real nature of anonymous contributions to political parties via electoral bonds, with the BJP being the largest beneficiary, are coming thick and fast.
Every official claim made before the launch of the murky scheme in 2017 stands totally discredited. Remember, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley boasted that established Indian corporates wanted this scheme to bring in white money into the electoral system and that they just wanted their identities protected.
This argument becomes laughable on a cursory scrutiny of the list which has largely small unknown companies, many acting as fronts of big corporates, pumping 10 to 100 times their net profit via electoral bonds.
Just think about the various possible motivations for doing this. Were some of these companies designed to just launder money for politicians? If so, what might have been the quid pro quo, a question Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud kept asking during the hearing of the electoral bonds case.
case.
What is the role of investigative agencies in extorting money out of infrastructure companies which are doing mega projects across India?
India?
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sought to defend her government by asking a meaningless question: “How do you know the contributions by companies came only after they were raided?”
The finance minister suggests that bonds could have been bought before the raids. She may be jumping the gun as more revelations in this regard are in the offing
The role of ED, Income Tax department and CBI, in what appears like an institutionalised extortion racket, was revealed earlier in an investigation by The News Minute and Newslaundry, which showed how over Rs 300 crore of electoral funding via the open trust route by some companies happened after investigations were launched against them by the ED and Income Tax department. This pattern is now also visible among the companies which have contributed huge sums via electoral bonds.
Modi’s anti-corruption plank was badly dented during the Karnataka elections itself when the charge of “40% Sarkara” had defined the character of the BJP rule. Large infrastructure projects, tom-tommed as a key driver of growth in the Modi era, seem to have opened floodgates of payouts so omnipresent in the electoral bonds saga. Guaranteed commissions seem to be the name of the game. It can easily appear in one of the ads of “Modi ki Guarantee”(Modi’s guarantee).
guarantee).
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has charged Modi with running the biggest extortion racket in the name of electoral bonds. The opposition parties are likely to escalate this campaign against Modi in the coming weeks as the election campaign hots up. True, opposition parties, too, have also got funds from electoral bonds, each receiving about 5% to 20% of what BJP had got.
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