Chowkidar Chor, Rafale etc. died a sudden death with the Supreme Court reprimanding the INC President Rahul Gandhi. Soon after that, the focus was moved to EVMs, claiming that they could be hacked, and the fate of the winning opponents reversed to the whims of the ruling clique. This was also disproved. Now the shout is that huge money’s have flown into the election, ostensibly from corporates, which has impacted the polls. There may be truth in the allegations, but no party is exempt!
Many reforms have been introduced by the NDA government, and more than 3 lac fake companies located and wound up. India was waking up to a corruption-free and black money free economy. Foreign NGOs, who too vigorously meddled in our country were tightened with stricter FCRA provisions. The hopes, though, did not last long as all political parties, led by BJP ensured to cloak themselves under veils of secrecy, to continue their thriving in black money resources.
The impoverishment of opposition parties may have begun immediately after the demonetization in 2016, most of the opposition parties stranded in the financial wilderness, shocked and beyond belief. They could not openly state their losses, for the fact that the money trashed was all bad. It will be naïve to believe that the ruling party did not know about the demonetization in advance and that they held much of old notes like the others. Quizzical, however, is the fact that the government, while cancelling the Rs.1000 and Rs.500 currency notes, brought in Rs.2000 notes, even more, comfortable to hoard. A large amount of black money has been confiscated during the elections all across India, indicating the omnipresence of unaccounted resources in our system.
Then was the introduction of electoral bonds on 2 Jan 2018, which could be bought officially from the State Bank of India and passed on to any political party. It served partly in the transparency in funding, as only buyers with KYC could purchase the bonds from their declared resources. However, the parties receiving the physical bonds from the donors were not needed to record the donors, who became now anonymous. No corporate would donate a paisa unless there is a quid pro quo benefit. Allegedly more than a billion dollars’ worth of bonds has entered the election bazaar, which is a matter of grave concern and could pose a threat to democracy. The Election Commission challenged the Central Government and has submitted to the Supreme Court that the bonds wreck the transparency in political funding. A hearing is pending.
The Lok Sabha, in March 2018, in a first of sorts since 2000, passed a bill without any debate, exempting the political parties from being scrutinized for funds received from foreign sources since 1976, thus legalizing all bad money received from abroad. More than 50% of all funds received by the major political parties are ‘from unknown sources,’
While the National Political Parties were brought under the RTI Act by the CIC ruling in June 2013, they have still not complied with the decision. Despite the deep political division on almost every issue and despite different ideologies, all the political parties stand united in protecting themselves against the reach of RTI Act, even as a petition in the Supreme Court demanding transparency of funding by the political parties is gathering dust.
Not one political party is a saint, and not one donor without any vested interest! Real democracy is when the playing field is level!
Jai Hind!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Intrépide voix – Fearless Voice
pic courtesy: the quint