In an interview published by The Red Mike on 12th December, former Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Dr Raghuram Rajan, gave a bizarre “context” to the unaccounted cash recovered from Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu. Dr Rajan claimed that the opposition parties are “forced” to use illicit money because electoral bonds provide an unequal playing field favouring the ruling party.
In his question, Sanket Upadhyay asked Dr Rajan about his views on electoral bonds, citing the statement given by former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg at Idea Exchange. Garg thoroughly explained why electoral bonds were introduced and what the ill effects of removing them from the system would be. Sanket asked Dr Rajan about his views on the statement where Garg said that if electoral bonds are removed, it will be cash on the streets yearly in the political process.
Dr Rajan asserted electoral bonds are an utterly non-transparent way of financing. Parties receive funds, and what they get is not known to anyone. In case an industrialist gives 1,000 crores to a party, the public can never know. He further called it a “bad way of financing elections” as the only people who know who donated what are the State Bank of India. He claimed that in India, it is hard to maintain secrets, and the ruling party can find the information of the business houses that donated to the opposition parties.
Dr Rajan speaks on the Dheeraj Sahu cash recovery in the context of Electoral Bonds. Do listen to his views below.
— Sanket Upadhyay (@sanket) December 12, 2023
Full intw – https://t.co/HTcXOGc7cW pic.twitter.com/cD9yHKKTUo
Dr Rajan said, “I do not say it happens, but the ruling party can call up the people who gave money to the opposition parties and ask them why they donated to so and so party.” He further claimed that this is why opposition parties must use cash instead of electoral bonds. “Elections are fought on money,” he added.
Furthermore, he said that for the elections, the ruling party could use agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department, and the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct raids against the leaders of the opposition parties. For example, in the recent attacks against Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, Dr Rajan asserted that the money could have been used to fight elections.
What is notable here is that even the Congress party could not develop this bizarre theory. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh categorically stated the party had nothing to do with the money recovered from premises linked to Sahu. While the Congress party distanced itself from the controversy, Dr Rajan felt it necessary to explain why so much cash was stored at premises linked to Sahu.
There was no progress because UPA 2 lacked a majority
Dr Rajan, who joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra last year on the economy, came out in defence of UPA-2 and claimed that the country did not progress much during 2009-2014 because UPA-2 was not in the majority. He said that Goods and Service Tax (GST) was introduced during UPA-2 but could not be implemented as opposition parties opposed it. UPA-2 was not in the majority, so it could not be made a law. Notably, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in opposition then.
Can you believe?
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) December 12, 2023
Raghuram Rajan now says policy paralysis of UPA 2 was fault of opposition!
He is crying that UPA did not have big enough majority
LOL… Nehru dynasty had big majorities for 40 years… they took India's economy DOWN from 6th to 12th largest! pic.twitter.com/XlLfXhz9xJ
In a way, he blamed the BJP for the “policy paralysis” during UPA-2. Rajan said, “Parliament was not allowed to function. You can’t solely point a finger and say nothing happened. There was partial paralysis; that was was opposition-led also.”
Who is Dhiraj Prasad Sahu
Dhiraj Prasad Sahu is a Rajya Sabha MP for Congress from Jharkhand. His family has been associated with the Congress party since independence. He became Rajya Sabha MP in by-polls in 2009 for the first time. In 2010, he was re-elected as RS MP for the second time; in 2018, he was re-elected for RS by Congress for the third time.
Dhiraj Sahu actively participates in parliamentary proceedings. Sahu was also part of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. In recent raids at Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd, where Dhiraj Prasad Sahu is a partner, the Income Tax Department recovered over 400 cr of unaccounted cash. Congress Party has distanced itself from their own MP after the recovery of the cash.
