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Rahul Gandhi slams electoral bonds scheme: ‘Biggest extortion racket…'
Rahul Gandhi said the funds for splitting political parties and toppling opposition governments came from electoral bonds.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday addressed a press conference in Thane amid his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Slamming the electoral bonds scheme in his speech Rahul Gandhi termed it as 'the biggest extortion racket in the world.'
The funds gained through the scheme were used to split political parties and topple opposition governments, Gandhi alleged a day after data related to the scheme was made public following the directions of the Supreme Court.
“Electoral bonds was biggest extortion racket in world… Funds for splitting political parties and toppling opposition governments came from electoral bonds,” Rahul Gandhi said. The Congress leader also clarified that there was no connection between the contracts given by Congress governments in states and electoral bonds.
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Launching an attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party Rahul Gandhi said that agencies such as the ED, CBI and the election commission of the country are the ‘weapons of the BJP’. “The institution of the country whether it is ED, Election Commission of India or CBI, now they are not the institution of the country but the weapons of BJP and RSS,” he said.
"If these institutions had done their work, this would have not happened. They (BJP) should think about this one day when the BJP government changes, then action will be taken and the action will be such that these things will not repeat again, I guarantee..." the Congress leader added.
Earlier in the day, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge urged a special investigation into the electoral bonds scheme and demanded that the BJP's bank accounts be frozen until the probe is completed. Kharge said that there were many dubious donors and added that those who have purchased these bonds were either involved in Enforcement Directorate (RD) or Income Tax (I-T) cases or raided by other probe agencies.
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Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Modi Kharge added, “The Prime Minister says 'Na khaunga, na khane dunga (Will not eat, will not let others eat)', but today it has been exposed by the Supreme Court how the BJP has made money out of electoral bonds. SBI data shows BJP got 50 per cent donations and Congress got only 11 per cent.”
The Election Commission of India's website revealed that the BJP garnered ₹6,060 crore over a span of five years via the electoral bonds scheme. Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress encashed bonds worth ₹1,609 crore. The Congress party which stood at the third position encashed ₹1,422 crore which was followed by the BRS, BJD and DMK which encashed ₹1,214 crore, ₹775 crore and ₹639 crore respectively.
