A day after the State Bank of India (SBI) sought time from the Supreme Court until June 30 to submit details of the electoral bond scheme, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Narendra Modi-led government of using the SBI as a “shield to hide its dubious dealings”. The party also asked whether the SBI and the ruling party were together defying the order of the Supreme Court.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mr. Kharge claimed that experts are of the view that nearly 45,000 automated data entries of donors can be matched within 24 hours. “Why does the SBI then need 4 more months, to collate this information?” asked the Congress chief.
“Modi Govt is using the largest bank of our country as a shield to hide its dubious dealings through Electoral Bonds,” Mr. Kharge alleged.
The Congress chief added: ”No less than the Supreme Court of India had struck down Modi Govt’s ‘Black Money Conversion’ scheme of Electoral Bonds, holding it ‘Unconstitutional’, ‘Violative of RTI’ and ‘Illegal’ and asking SBI to furnish donor details by March 6.”
‘BJP is the beneficiary’
Mr. Kharge alleged that the extension is being sought to ensure that the names of the donors are not exposed before the Lok Sabha election.
Why did the Supreme Court strike down the electoral bonds scheme? | Explained
“The BJP is the main beneficiary of this fraudulent scheme. Isn’t the Modi Govt conveniently hiding the BJP’s shady dealings where contracts of highways, ports, airports, power plants etc were handed over to Modi ji’s cronies in lieu of these opaque electoral bonds?” he asked.
“… the Electoral Bonds scheme was opaque, undemocratic and destroyed level playing field. But the Modi Govt, PMO and FM bulldozed every institution - RBI, Election Commission, Parliament and Opposition to fill BJP’s coffers. Now a desperate Modi Govt, clutching on straws, is trying to use SBI to bulldoze the Supreme Court’s judgement!” Mr Kharge alleged.
‘Hiding black money sources’
Addressing a press conference at party headquarters on Tuesday, Supriya Shrinate, who heads the social media department, questioned why a bank that operates 48 crore accounts, 66,000 ATMs, and 23,000 branches, needs five months to provide information about electoral bonds.
“This should have been available at the click of a button,” she said. ”The question arises whether the country’s largest government bank has now become a means of hiding the financial irregularities of the BJP and the means to conceal source of black money,” she added.
“The question arises whether a political party and a government bank are together defying the decision of the Supreme Court of the country,” Ms. Shrinate asked.
SBI trying to save BJP: CPI
CPI general secretary D. Raja said the SBI was trying to save “the BJP from an embarrassment”.
“The claim that it will require more than 4 months to furnish the details of merely 22217 EBs makes a joke out Modi’s claims of Digital India. BJP’s extortions and crony capitalist nexus must be exposed,” Mr. Raja said
