Citing the joint investigation by The News Minute and Newslaundry, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday, February 22, stated that an 'autocratic Modi government' was capturing democracy through extortion and financial terrorism. He said that the report also shows that some of the firms handed out a heftier amount to the BJP in the months following the raids.
“Modi Govt hoodwinked nationalised banks to transfer ₹65 Crore of the donation received by Congress and seized it through Income Tax. Has the BJP ever paid Income Tax? On one hand the Modi Govt wants to steal the hard earned money of people donated to the Congress party in good faith, and on the other hand it threatens corporate firms through ED, CBI, IT etc to grab lion’s share of donations. Looting Opposition & Blackmailing donors to fill BJP’s coffers is a dark phase for our democracy,” Kharge said, adding that the party will fight attempts to erode democracy in the court of law and among the public.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also referred to the TNM-NL investigation and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘pet project’ of electoral bonds had done away with all transparency. The Supreme Court struck down electoral bonds on February 15 stating that it violates the right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
“The brave independent journalists at The News Minute and Newslaundry have done a thorough investigation of two sources of campaign finance - 1. electoral trusts 2. political party donations. They’ve discovered that for at least 30 firms, ED and IT raids have been followed by the investigated firms making substantial chanda donations amounting to around Rs 335 crores to MoShah’s coffers. From the ashes of IT and ED, MoShah has innovated this new I-D model: Investigate, then get them to Donate,” Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X. He also said that Dr Manmohan Singh gave Indian citizens a unique ID through Aadhaar, while Narendra Modi has given corporate India a new ID: ‘Investigate-Donate’.
Jairam Ramesh pointed out that Electoral Trusts and conventional political party donations allow some degree of transparency into campaign financing, which enables public disclosure of donors of political parties. “It allows investigations like this one. The only reason that we have any data at all is because the Electoral Bonds are only open in a few 15-day windows every year, and because the investigated businesses are desperate to make donations and appease MoShah instantaneously,” he added.
He also said that BJP had received the majority of its declared campaign funds from Electoral Bonds, “around 60%” of the total amount.
TNM had mentioned in an earlier report that BJP garnered the highest amount between 2017 and March 2023, receiving a staggering Rs 6,570 crore or 54% of the total electoral bonds sold. The Congress party received a total of Rs 1,123 crore or 9% of the total electoral bonds sold. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress was close behind, having garnered Rs 1,092 crore.
Read: Electoral Bonds: How much did political parties make? A break-up
Referring to a Bombay High Court verdict on February 19 regarding the arrest of former CMD of ICICI Bank Chanda Kocchar which declared that it was a blatant abuse of power by the CBI, Jairam Ramesh asked whether the arrest was an attempt to get funds for the election campaign. “News Laundry, which co-conducted this investigation, itself has been a victim of ED/IT Raj. Was this meant to intimidate journalists against speaking up to their power?,” he added.