Nation paid price for BJP’s compulsion to get donations: Congress on electoral bonds

The Congress has launched a fresh criticism against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging that the BJP’s eagerness to secure donations led it to implement the electoral bonds scheme despite warnings from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Jairam Ramesh, a Congress leader, took to X to claim that the ruling party received over Rs 430 crore in donations from 33 companies that reported negative or nearly zero profit.

Jairam Ramesh also criticized the BJP, stating that there are “four primary channels of corruption in the electoral bond scam.” He mentioned, “There are four primary channels of corruption in the #ElectoralBondScam, and with each passing day, more examples emerge to confirm the shocking reality of the corruption which has engulfed this country through Narendra Modi’s encouragement.”

According to a media report shared by the Congress MP on X, 33 loss-making companies contributed electoral bonds worth Rs 582 crore, with 75 percent of the funds going to the BJP.

Ramesh claimed that Rs 434.2 crore was donated to the BJP by 33 companies that recorded negative or near-zero profit after tax between 2016-17 and 2022-23. He highlighted that the combined net losses of these companies exceeded Rs 1 lakh crore and that 16 of them paid no or negative direct taxes. Ramesh suggested that many of these companies might be shell companies created for money laundering purposes. Additionally, he noted that Rs 601 crore was donated to the BJP by six companies with positive net profits during the same period, but their donations exceeded their profits significantly, indicating possible fronting for other companies.

Regarding the Electoral Bonds Scheme, Ramesh recalled that the RBI had initially expressed concerns about its potential for money laundering. He criticized the BJP for proceeding with the scheme despite these warnings, stating, “The BJP’s compulsion to get chanda at all costs saw it go ahead with this scheme without heeding this astute advice. The nation has paid the price!”