'Everyone will regret it': PM Modi accuses opposition of 'spreading lies' on electoral bonds scheme
PTC News Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the opposition parties of "spreading lies" over the electoral bonds scheme, which has been struck down by the Supreme Court. "Everyone will regret it when there is an honest reflection," the PM said.
In an interview, PM Modi stated that the electoral bonds scheme was intended to combat black money in elections.
He stated that of the 16 companies that donated following probe agency action, 37% went to the BJP and 63% to opposition parties.
He stated that of the 16 companies that donated following probe agency action, 37% went to the BJP and 63% to opposition parties.
The Prime Minister stated that the country has been pushed into using "black money" in elections, which everyone will regret.
In his first detailed reaction to the electoral bonds scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been on a hectic campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, said the scheme should also be viewed as a success story because it has allowed the trail to show who has contributed to political parties through it. He also stated that there is plenty of room for improvement in the scheme.
"There has been a long-running debate in our country about the dangers of using black money in elections. The use of black money in the country's elections has come to an end; this debate has been ongoing for a long time. Everyone knows that money is spent in elections. My party, like all other parties and candidates, spends money, which must be taken from people. I wanted to try something; how can our elections be free of black money and transparent? I had a pure thought in my mind. We were looking for a way. We found a small way, but we never claimed it was the only way," he explained.
He stated that there was a debate in Parliament about the electoral bonds scheme when the relevant bill was passed, and some of those who are now commenting on it supported it.
The Prime Minister stated that political parties were previously allowed to accept cash donations of up to Rs 20,000, which he reduced to Rs 2500 because he did not want "this cash business" to continue.
He stated that the BJP had previously decided to accept all political donations via cheques, but businesspeople arrived and stated that they could not pay this way because the government would learn how much they had contributed to a political party and would "trouble them". He stated that the businessmen indicated that they were willing to make donations but not by cheque.
PM Modi also accused the opposition of spreading lies about electoral bonds, claiming that 26 out of the 3,000 companies that donated through the scheme were investigated by agencies such as the ED.
He stated that 16 of the 26 companies took electoral bonds when faced with action.
"Of these sixteen companies, 37% went to the BJP and 63% to anti-BJP opposition parties.
- ANI
