PM Modi on Electrol Bond : Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused opposition parties of “spreading lies” over the electoral bond scheme. The Supreme Court rejected it, with the PM saying, “Everyone will regret it when considered honestly.”
PM Modi said the electoral bond scheme was aimed at curbing black money in elections and said the opposition wanted to run away by leveling allegations. He said that out of the 16 companies that donated after the action by the investigating agencies, only 37 per cent of the money went to the BJP and 63 per cent to the anti-BJP opposition parties. The Prime Minister said that the country will face the issue of “black money” in the elections. Has been pushed and everyone will regret it.
In his first detailed reaction on the electoral bond scheme, PM Modi said the scheme should also be seen as a success story as it has allowed it to show who has made political contributions. He also said that there is a lot of scope for improvement in the plan.
‘I never claimed, this is absolutely the right path’
The PM further said, “There has been a discussion going on in our country for a long time that a dangerous game is played in elections through black money. This discussion has been going on for a long time that the game of black money should end in the elections of the country. Money is spent, no one can deny it, all parties and candidates spend and I wanted to make some efforts to get our elections done with this black money. How to be free? I had a pure idea in my mind, we never claimed that it was the right way.”
Also mentioned demonetization
He said that the electoral bond scheme was debated in Parliament when the relevant bill was passed and some of those who are now commenting on it had supported it. He referred to the government’s decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 denomination as part of efforts to tackle black money. PM Modi said, “These notes were carried in large quantities during the elections. We took this step so that black money is eliminated.”
The Prime Minister said that political parties were earlier allowed to make cash donations up to Rs 20,000 and he changed it to Rs 2500 because he did not want “this cash business” to continue.
He said that BJP had earlier decided to take all political donations through cheques, but business people came and said that they cannot make payments through this medium because the government would know how much they have contributed to a political party and this would They will have trouble. He said that the businessmen have informed that they are ready to donate, but not through cheque.
…when BJP had money problems
He said, “I remember in the nineties, BJP had to face a lot of problems, there was no money because we had this rule. Those who wanted to give did not have the courage to give… I knew all this. ..Now see if there were no electoral bonds, then which system has the power to trace how the money came and where it went,”
He said, “This is the success story of electoral bonds, there were electoral bonds, so you are getting to know which company gave, how it gave, where it gave. What happened in this process was good or bad, it is debatable. There may be an issue. …I never say that there should be any deficiency in decision making, we learn and improve by discussing, but today we have completely pushed the country towards black money when they think honestly. Then everyone will regret.
PM Modi also attacked the opposition for spreading lies on electoral bonds and said that out of the 3,000 companies that donated through the scheme, 26 faced action from investigating agencies like the ED.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court canceled the electoral bond scheme in February this year and said that it is unconstitutional. India Bloc parties are targeting the BJP-led government over the electoral bond scheme in their election campaign. The Supreme Court in its judgment has asked SBI to stop issuing electoral bonds. In compliance with a direction of the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India (ECI) uploaded the data on Electora.