Rahul intensifies attack on Modi over poll bonds
KOCHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the electoral bond scheme and accused him of resorting to “intimidatory tactics” to force businessmen to fund the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre.
“There are some people in every small town or village who extort money on the streets by threatening physical harm. In Malayalam, you call this extortion ‘kolla adikkal’ (loot), but Modi calls it electoral bonds. What a common thief is doing on the streets, the PM is doing at an international level,” the Lok Sabha MP said while campaigning in his Wayanad constituency.
The former Congress chief accused the Centre of using sophisticated tactics to threaten targeted businessmen and helping a few rich businessmen in the country.
“At the electoral bond level, the threats are much more sophisticated. The Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and Income Tax people will come, they will interrogate and at the end of it, they will say why don’t you give this (their business) to (businessman) Adani,” he said.
In other instances, such “intimidatory tactics” also led to the businessman paying the BJP in electoral bonds, he alleged.
On February 15, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional and asked the State Bank of India and Election Commission of India to disclose all details of bonds purchased and encashed from April 2019.
The verdict came ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and was immediately welcomed by opposition parties and civil society activists.
Gandhi also alleged Modi “does not have the understanding to run the country”.
The Congress leader raked up the issue of electoral bonds even in Kozhikode, where he addressed another gathering later in the day.
“This (electoral bonds) is Narendra Modi’s master scheme. The whole idea was his. He said the electoral bonds were launched to bring transparency in politics. Then, why were the names kept hidden? Who was stopping the release of data after the Supreme Court asked? This is extortion. On street level, it is known as ‘haftebazi’. This is the country’s biggest ‘haftebaazi’ scheme conceptualised by the Prime Minister,” he said.