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‘Farmers don't give electoral bonds’: Rahul Gandhi's swipe at Modi govt over protest
The Supreme Court delivered a big blow to the Narendra Modi-led government by striking down the electoral bonds scheme for political funding.
Taking a swipe at the Narendra Modi-led central government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the farmers should ask for a minimum support price for their crops as they don't give electoral bonds.
In a post on X in Hindi, Gandhi said, “Narendra Modi, who gave the slogan 'I will not let the country be sold', is ready to sell every resource of the country for election donations.”
“But the farmer should not even ask for minimum support price on his crop, because the farmer does not give electoral bonds. It's a strange irony.”
Rahul Gandhi's comment comes against the backdrop of the ongoing farmers' protest and the Supreme Court striking down the controversial election funding system that allowed individuals and companies to send unlimited donations to political parties without the need to disclose donor identity.
Critics of the electoral bond scheme have long held that the system favoured the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Supreme Court's verdict comes just months ahead of a 2024 Lok Sabha election and is seen as a setback to the BJP, which has been the largest beneficiary of the system.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms, 57% of the donations between 2018 and March 2022 went to the BJP.
Striking down the electoral bonds scheme for political funding as “unconstitutional”, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the freedom of political expression cannot be exercised freely in the absence of privacy of political affiliation.
"We are unable to see how the disclosure of information about contributors to the political party to which the contribution is made would infringe political expression," Justice Chandrachud, who penned the verdict for himself and on behalf of Justices B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said.
"Under the current scheme, it is still open to the political party to coerce persons to contribute. Thus, the argument of the Union of India that the electoral bond scheme protects the confidentiality of the contributor akin to the system of secret ballot is erroneous," it said.
