Welcoming the Supreme Court’s directive to the State Bank of India (SBI) to furnish the data regarding electoral bonds within 24 hours, Opposition parties on Monday claimed that the move is the first step towards exposing the nexus between “crony capitalists and the Bharatiya Janata Party”.
“With the Supreme Court’s decision, the country will soon come to know who donated to the BJP through electoral bonds. This is the first step in exposing the corruption, scams and transactions of the [Narendra] Modi government,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Even now, the country will not find out the specific contracts that capitalist donors of the BJP got out of the Modi government in exchange of donations and the Supreme Court should give appropriate directions for that too,” Mr. Kharge added.
The Congress chief said media reports suggested how the BJP used to “extort donations” by conducting Income Tax, Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids and asserted that the Supreme Court’s decision is “a victory for transparency, accountability, and a level-playing field in democracy”.
Former party chief Rahul Gandhi claimed that the government, which came to power on the promise of bringing black money back from Swiss banks in 100 days, “stood on its head in the Supreme Court to hide the data of its own bank”.
“Electoral Bonds will prove to be the biggest scam in Indian history and will reveal the real face of Narendra Modi in front of the country by exposing the nexus between corrupt industrialists and the government,” Mr. Gandhi said in a post on X.
Lauding the top court, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, “This is in the interest of transparency of political funding in the country, particularly electoral funding...”
Calling the court order a “tight slap” on the SBI for defying its earlier order, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram took to X and said, “This was a self-inflicted stain. The order of the Supreme Court today gives an opportunity to SBI to wipe the stain and redeem itself. I am sorry for the Chairman of SBI and the fine band of officers that they placed themselves in this situation”.
Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal hailed the Supreme Court for coming to the aid of Indian democracy. “It was laughable for the SBI to seek an extension on a simple 1 day job. The fact is that the government is scared of all their skeletons tumbling out of the closet. This mega corruption scandal, as certified by the Supreme Court, will expose the unholy nexus between the BJP and its corrupt corporate masters,” Mr. Venugopal said on X.
The Communist Party of India (CPI), welcoming the directive, said the court has saved “democracy and electoral system”.
“The unscrupulous scheme, designed to finance the BJP by anonymous corporate donors, had become a matter of serious concern. The party also hails the warning of punitive action on bank’s failure to do on the stipulated date, that is, by March 12,” the CPI said in a statement.
