Congress leaders on Tuesday called out the Narendra Modi-led government for lying to the Parliament after HuffPost India’s report on how the Centre had tried to muzzle the Election Commission’s opposition to electoral bonds.
HuffPost India is publishing a five-part series this week on journalist Nitin Sethi’s investigation into how the Modi government brought untraceable funds into Indian politics.
The first part, published on Monday, showed how the government dismissed the Reserve Bank of India’s strong objections to its electoral bond scheme. The RBI had said it would encourage money laundering and undermine faith in Indian currency.
The second part of the investigation reveals how the government had also dismissed the Election Commission of India’s opposition to electoral bonds, lied to the Parliament and then resorted to a hurried cover-up when its mis-statements were caught out.
On Tuesday, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh called for the scheme to scrapped while MP Rajeev Gowda called it legalised corruption.
On Monday, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were among the opposition leaders who demanded answers from the BJP-led central government on the scheme and how it has benefitted the ruling party.