‘Chanda Do, Dhandha Lo’: Congress says Supreme Court-monitored probe needed in electoral bonds data

Congress on Saturday stepped up its attacks on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the electoral bonds issue, which has indicated that the saffron party was the biggest receiver of the funds in the past few years. Alleging “extortion” of thousands of crores from corporate India, Congress has demanded that a need for a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the electoral bonds is pressing. “Chanda Do, Dhandha Lo” is what Congress alleges as one of the corrupt tactics of the BJP.

Addressing a press conference, Congress' General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh said through the analysis of the electoral bonds data, four corrupt tactics of the BJP – "Chanda Do, Dhandha Lo [give donations, get business], Hafta Vasuli [extortion], Theka Lo-Rishvat Do [get contracts after paying bribe], Farzi Company - Dakait Sangni [loot through shell companies] – have emerged.

“In fact, since yesterday, we have seen dozens of examples of these kinds of corruption emerge. Thousands of crores have been extorted and extracted from corporate India, and thousands of crores of public assets have been looted,” Jairam Ramesh said.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jairam Ramesh said “Chanda dataon ka samman aur anndataon ka apmaan [Honoring the donors of money and insulting the farmers who provide food]” has been the strategy of the prime minister.

“I want to say to the HM [Amit Shah] that ED [Enforcement Directorate], CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation], and I-T [Income-Tax department] are not in the hands of Congress but the BJP, so it's not right to allege us,” the Congress leader said.

Congress leaders then went on to assert the need for a Supreme Court-monitored high-level probe into the “electoral bonds scam” and freezing of its bank accounts for alleged corruption. Jairam Ramesh said the Congress cannot even use the money that was collected through crowdfunding as the Lok Sabha elections inches closer.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) will be announcing the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 today, March 16, at 3 pm.

“In 2016 it was 'Notebandi [demonetisation]' now in 2024 it's Khaatabandi [freezing of bank accounts]', in 2019, it was the Balakot air strike and now in 2024, it is a surgical strike against Congress. The money that people have given us through crowdfunding even that we can't use as our accounts have been frozen,” the Congress leader said, adding, “In addition to these corrupt practices that have emerged through the electoral bond scam, this morning, news has come out of an US investigation into Mr Modi's favourite business group.”