A raft of propagandists on the verge of political and media oblivion quickly hailed the data as ‘incriminating evidence’ of corruption against the central government, even though several political parties, including Congress, TMC, and DMK, also received funds via electoral bonds, in addition to the incomplete set of data that doesn’t match electoral bonds to the political parties that encashed them.
As predicted, in line with its soaring popularity and omnipresence across the vast expanse of the country, the BJP emerged as the political party to receive the highest amount of donations through electoral bonds, which stood at Rs 6,060 crores. A regional party, Trinamool Congress, followed the BJP with Rs 1,600 crores in receipt of electoral bonds. Third came the Congress party, which managed to receive just over Rs 1,400 crores.
For many, it came as a surprise that a regional party with its sphere of influence limited only to Bengal, TMC, received a greater amount of donations through electoral bonds than a political party like Congress that preens on being a national party and proudly boasts of having its presence across the length and breadth of the country.
But to some, it was on the expected lines. A party that has failed to fetch votes was likely not going to get voters and companies to pay for it. In fact, the electoral bonds data is yet another reminder of Congress’ spectacular failure in the country’s political arena.
The BJP had won 303 seats out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, a whopping 55 per cent of the total seats, while the Congress party had won just 52 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which is less than 10 per cent of the total seats. A party receiving 11 per cent in donations for not even crossing the 10 per cent mark in Lok Sabha appears to be more than reasonable.
But, this doesn’t seem to be the sentiment shared by the Congress party when it addressed a press conference earlier today. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge grumbled that the BJP had received a greater amount of donations through electoral bonds than the Congress party. The grand old party also questioned how could such companies give such donations.
Today, the Supreme Court exposed how the BJP has made money out of these electoral bonds. SBI data shows that donations consist of 50% BJP bonds and only 11% Congress bonds.
— Congress (@INCIndia) March 15, 2024
• How can they get this much money?
• How can such companies give such donations?
There are many… pic.twitter.com/7oSlfGfzU9
So, despite receiving funds that are larger in proportion to the percentage of seats they currently hold in Lok Sabha, the Congress party bitterly whining that the BJP outdid it in terms of receiving donations, once an exclusive preserve of the grand old party. It is worth noting that while Congress opposes Electoral Bonds, they never stopped accepting them, they were encashing bonds till the last date allowed by ED.
Congress had long been a party favoured by the corporates for donations, but as times changed, specifically after 2014, when the BJP consolidated under PM Modi and emerged as a political party that meant business and intended to fulfil the country’s unrealised potential, like votes, the companies also shifted from Congress to the BJP.
The Congress government in 2013 launched electoral trusts to make political donations tax free, but unfortunately for them, the BJP rose to power after that, and it got more donations from trusts, too, as companies shifted their allegiance to a party that has since its inception maintained that if India were to become a developed country, people will have to be encouraged doing business and the country will have to shun romanticising with the poverty that Congress had fed for decades as a means to cover up their disastrous policy decisions.
The corporates prize efficiency and ability. Why would they pay donations to a party that has long ceased to be a democratic force and had metamorphosed into a fiefdom of the Gandhi family? How can a party that has failed to inspire voters expect corporates to fund it? The corporates would certainly not pay donations to a party that not only suffered and continues to do so, with electoral losses, but is also struggling in a narrative war.
Moreover, with the Gandhi scion, Rahul Gandhi, relentlessly attacking the businessmen, most notably Gautam Adani and Ambanis, and sending a message to the wider business community that Congress is against profit-making and commerce, it is unlikely that the corporates would line up to pay for a party that seeks to demonise them and cast them as evil money-grubbing villains in front of the masses. It cannot be discounted that the demonising rhetoric of Rahul Gandhi against India’s top businessmen had a bearing on how corporations and companies donated via electoral bonds.
The Congress party’s funding misery was also apparent in the lukewarm response to the ‘Donate for Desh’ crowdsourcing campaign. Launched on December 16, 2023, with a terrible digital strategy, the Congress crowdfunding campaign stumbled into a pit of incompetence as it managed to garner just Rs 5.35 crores in the time of one week, which also included donations made by several senior Congress leaders in a bid to encourage people to donate.
The campaign launched initially with much fanfare and touted as the next big thing that would reverse the dying fortunes of the party, quietly fizzled out as it failed to collect the funds it had previously envisaged.
In this context, the Congress party’s recent carping is not about how “unfair” the contest is, but it is about how they continue to struggle with the finances while the other side is flush with money they receive on the back of fulfilment of the promises, guaranteeing economic stability, investment in infrastructural development, controlling inflation, and creating a conducive environment for businesses to flourish, which veritably resulted in the country becoming the fastest growing nation in the world. As per the latest opinion poll, the BJP-led NDA is all set to surpass the 400-seat mark, with BJP alone winning over 350 seats and creating a hattrick of Lok Sabha election victories.
