Last Updated: March 16, 2024, 10:14 IST
Union Home Minister Amit Shah. (PTI/File)
Electoral Bonds Scheme: Union Home Minister Amit Shah defended his government’s move and said it was aimed to end black money in politics
Amid a political furore over the recently unveiled electoral bonds scheme data, which the opposition has termed as ‘Independent India’s biggest scam’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah defended his government’s move and said it was aimed to end black money in politics.
Noting that he fully respects the Supreme Court order on electoral bonds, Shah added that the scheme should have been improved rather than scrapped.
“Electoral bonds were introduced to end the influence of black money in Indian politics. I fully respect the Supreme Court decision scrapping the scheme because we respect the democracy, but I feel that instead of completely scrapping the electoral bonds, it should have been improved,” Shah said while speaking at the India Today Conclave.
On Congress’s charge of corruption over the electoral bonds, Shah hit back at the opposition and said that the grand old party earlier used to accept donations in cash and submitted no records of the same. He also asked where the donation money before the electoral bonds scheme came from.
“The leaders of the opposition party used to take political donations in cash because out of a donation of Rs 1,100, they used to deposit Rs 100 in the name of the party and keep Rs 1,000 in their own pockets,” PTI quoted Shah as saying.
The home minister also discussed the recently revealed SBI data on electoral bonds and said that BJP received only Rs 6000 crore out of Rs 20,000 crore.
“I want to make my stance clear about it. Out of the total Rs 20,000 crore electoral bonds, the BJP has got approximately Rs 6,000 crore. Where did the rest of the bonds go? TMC has got Rs 1,600 crore, Congress got Rs 1,400 crore, BRS got Rs 1,200 crore, BJD got Rs 750 crore and DMK got Rs 639 crore. “We have got Rs 6,000 crore despite having 303 MPs and the rest got Rs 14,000 crore against 242 MPs. What is the hue and cry about? I can say that once the accounts are settled they will not be able to face you all,” he added.
Talking about the one nation, one election policy, Shah said it is the concept of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and when it is implemented, it will ensure faster development and end recurring expenditure.
“The idea of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP behind one nation, one election is that elections are held again and again in this country and the people are busy in elections and this leads to repeated expenditure. “Due to the model code of conduct, many development works come to a halt. One nation, one election is a solution for this,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
