Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary M.V. Govindan on Friday said the Bank of India’s mistake in entering the wrong PAN number had prompted the Income Tax department to freeze the party’s accounts in Thrissur district illegally.
Mr. Govindan said the Bharatiya Janata Party central leadership’s attempt to hobble the Left Democratic Front’s campaign in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency explained the I-T department’s overzealousness.
He said a section of the right-wing media plotted with the the BJP to create the political optics that the CPI(M) hoarded unaccounted money in its accounts without filing I-T returns.
Mr. Govindan reiterated that the party’s financial operations were transparent and above board. The CPI(M) had nothing to hide. It sourced its funds from party levies and contributions from small donors, a testament to its commitment to financial integrity.
The CPI(M) would mobilise students, teachers, and women to protest Israel’s genocidal attack on starving and hedged-in residents of Gaza on May 20. The CPI(M) also expressed solidarity with students, including in the United States, protesting Israel’s indiscriminate military action against the people of Palestine.