New Delhi: The Indian national Congress on Thursday (March 21) said that democracy in India has been frozen and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of “crippling” the party financially by freezing its bank accounts in a tax dispute ahead of the general election.
At a press conference in New Delhi attended by its top leadership, including President Mallikarjun Kharge, former President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, Media In-Charge Jairam Ramesh, and Treasurer Ajay Maken, former Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi told reporters that the party is unable to campaign properly with its accounts frozen by the Income Tax Department.
“Our entire financial identity has been erased,” said Gandhi, 53, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
“We have no money to campaign, we cannot support our candidates. Our ability to fight elections has been damaged.”
“Last week, we received another notice from the tax authorities that dates back to our filings from 1995-96,” Gandhi said.
“This is a criminal action on the Congress party done by the prime minister and the home minister. The idea that India is a democracy is a lie. There is no democracy in India today.”
The Congress claims that the actions taken by the tax department are politically driven, aiming to hinder its ability to pose a challenge to Modi's BJP.
Last month, the party said that the BJP government froze its bank accounts and asked for Rs 210 crore because they said the party didn't file its returns on time and got money from its lawmakers late.
Last week, the Delhi High Court agreed with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and said the Income Tax Department can keep asking the Congress party to pay over Rs 100 crore in taxes. The IT Department's lawyer told the court that they already collected Rs 65.94 crore, but they still need to get Rs 102 crore, and with interest added, it's now Rs 135.06 crore, PTI reported.
According to the most recent official financial disclosures submitted by the state bank of India to the Election Commission of India on Supreme court’s direction, the BJP's funds surpass those of the Congress by nearly tenfold. This gap widened following the implementation of controversial electoral bonds by Modi's government in 2017, which permitted unrestricted anonymous donations.
Last month, the Supreme Court deemed the scheme unconstitutional and called for the disclosure of donor and recipient details to the public. The disclosed information revealed that the BJP was the primary beneficiary, receiving just under half of all donations totalling around ₹5,340 crores.
Parliamentary elections in India will began in seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with different states voting at different times. Results are scheduled to be announced on June 4.