Jairam Ramesh highlighted that the scheme was opposed by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel and added that it ensures a financial hold of the ruling BJP over political donations made by business houses.
The Congress on Tuesday alleged that the electoral bonds scheme is one of the most "diabolical acts" of the Narendra Modi government as it undermines the electoral system and democracy in the country. Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said the electoral bonds scheme is a method to convert black money into white.
He further highlighted that the scheme was opposed by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel and added that it ensures a financial hold of the ruling BJP over political donations made by business houses.
He further highlighted that the scheme was opposed by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel and added that it ensures a financial hold of the ruling BJP over political donations made by business houses.
It was not unknown that Dr. Urjit Patel as the Governor of the RBI had opposed the electoral bonds scheme of the Modi government. Now the memoir of the-then Finance Secretary confirms that Dr. Patel insisted electoral bonds should only be issued by the RBI and that too in digital… pic.twitter.com/NCRQSl8bRJ
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 26, 2023
He added, "It is not only a method to convert black money into white overwhelmingly in favour of the BJP, but also ensures a financial chokehold of the BJP via the government over political donations of business groups — leading towards economic and political concentration of wealth."
"But as @RahulGandhi recently pointed out, the INDIA parties have come together to defeat this complete takeover of the state machinery by the BJP," he said.
Earlier, the Congress had claimed that the electoral bond scheme was designed to favour the ruling party and demanded a transparent system of electoral funding.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said more than 52 per cent of the BJP's political donations of ₹ 5,271.97 crore between FY 2016-17 and FY 2021-22 came from electoral bonds as against ₹ 1,783.93 crore received by all other national parties according to a new report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
"This effectively implies that the Modi government's controversial, corrupt and contrived electoral bonds scheme is a money whitening scheme, which converts black money to white," he claimed at a press conference.
