Electoral bonds 'successful attempt' to usher in honest money in politics, says BJP; slams Cong for opposing them

The BJP on Thursday defended electoral bonds as a "successful attempt to usher in honest money in politics" and slammed the Congress for criticising them, saying "the alliance of the defeated and the dejected corrupt politicians" do not want clean, tax-paid transparent money in elections. "Electoral bonds brought in honest money in electoral politics. People who are making baseless allegations against the Union government about electoral bonds have grown used to black money and believe in its use during elections," senior BJP leader and Union minister Piyush Goyal told a press conference.

Taking a swipe at the Congress, he said in some parties, leaders grew rich while the BJP used political funds for the right purpose only. On a day the Congress accused the BJP of making "government corruption official" by bringing in the concept of electoral bonds, Goyal hit back, asking the opposition why then it did not refuse funds donated to it through these bonds.

He also asserted that the government took almost a year to address the concerns of the RBI and the Election Commission over the issue of bonds, and expressed confidence that the EC will now be satisfied after experiencing the transparency and honest money brought in political funding. All the information about the electoral bonds are in public domain and can be accessed through RTI, he said, dismissing reports over the matter as "no new revelations".

To a question about the BJP drawing a huge share of corporate funding, he said it is natural as the saffron party is much bigger than the Congress in its strength and many organisations also reject the "corrupt ideology" propagated by the opposition party. The details of electoral bonds, including those of donors and donees, have been deliberately kept away from the public eye so that people can use them to donate to the party of their choice without fearing any harassment, Goyal said.

He added that the Congress when in power used to go after those who donated money to the BJP through cheques. That is why the Modi government brought in electoral bonds and also banned donations in cash for more than Rs 2000 in its bid to curb the use of black money and usher in transparency, he added.

"We have ensured that the money going into politics is accounted," he said, adding that these bonds are non-transferable, can be redeemed only within 15 days and be deposited to only a designated account of political parties. Only KYC-compliance entities can purchase these bonds, he added.

On the Election Commission's recommendation, the Narendra Modi government banned cash donations above Rs 2,000, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)