Desperate Modi govt trying to use SBI to bulldoze SC judgement on electoral bonds scheme: Congress

The Congress on Tuesday attacked the Centre over the State Bank of India moving the Supreme Court to seek more time to disclose electoral bond details alleging that the Modi government is using the largest bank of the country as a shield to hide its dubious dealingsThe State Bank of India SBI on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties In its verdict last month the top court directed the SBI to furnish the details to the poll panel by March 6Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the Congress position on the electoral bonds scheme is that it is opaque undemocratic and destroyed the level playing fieldModi government is using the largest bank of our country as a shield to hide its dubious dealings through Electoral Bonds he saidNo less than the Supreme Court of India had struck down Modi governments black money conversion scheme of electoral bonds holding it unconstitutional violative of RTI and illegal and asking SBI to furnish donor details by March 6 he saidBut the BJP wants it to be done after Lok Sabha elections by June 30 Kharge said adding that the tenure of the Lok Sabha will end on June 16Alleging that the BJP was the main beneficiary of the fraudulent electoral bonds scheme Kharge said Isnt the government conveniently hiding the BJPs shady dealings where contracts of highways ports airports power plants etc were handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modis cronies in lieu of these opaque electoral bondsExperts say that the 44434 automated data entries of donors can be divulged and matched in just 24 hours Why does the SBI then need 4 more months to collate this information he saidCongress party was crystal clear that the Electoral Bonds scheme was opaque undemocratic and destroyed level playing field But the Modi government PMO and FM bulldozed every institution RBI Election Commission Parliament and Opposition to fill BJPs coffers Kharge allegedNow a desperate Modi Govt clutching on straws is trying to use SBI to bulldoze the Supreme Courts judgement he saidCongress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said he had predicted the delay diversion and digression by the government and SBI on the issueOn day of electoral bonds SC judgement I had predicted delay diversion amp digression by govtsbi in disclosing details Proved right today sbi has started whataboutery to obstruct disclosure especially before elections since opposition wanted to make details disclosed a major election issue Singhvi saidCongress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said the SBIs request for an extension defeats the very purpose of the Supreme Court judgement on electoral bondsIt is highly unlikely that the SBI would need more time to share data which is already digitised Issues of capacity to adhere to the deadline cannot come up conveniently one day before the day of the deadline he saidThis is a government that is known to enact overnight policy changes no matter the inconveniences to people It is no surprise that the former RBI Governor Urjit Patel resigned his post over disagreements with the government on electoral bonds This is another example of institutional capture Voters deserve transparency and full information Gogoi assertedCongress MP Manish Tewari also hit out at the government and urged the Supreme Court to not allow SBIs plea Supreme Court should not allow TheOfficialSBI to get away with its chicanery on Electoral Bonds Tewari said on XPeople before the General Elections must know who got what from whom amp whether there was any primafacie quid pro quo involved he saidThe Supreme Court must order lifting of the corporate veil of SPVs called electoral trusts to reveal the true identity of the donor Tewari saidCongress leader Rahul Gandhi had on Monday slammed the government over the issue terming it a lastditch attempt before the Lok Sabha polls to hide Prime Minister Narendra Modis real faceIn a post in Hindi on X Gandhi had said Narendra Modi has put his entire force in order to hide the donation businessWhen the Supreme Court has stated that it is the right of the people of the country to know the truth about electoral bonds then why does the SBI not want this information to be made public before the elections the former Congress chief had saidIn an application filed before the top court SBI contended that retrieval of information from each silo and the procedure of matching the information of one silo to that of the other would be a timeconsuming exerciseThe plea submitted that due to stringent measures undertaken to ensure that the identity of the donors was kept anonymous decoding the electoral bonds and matching donors to the donations made would be a complex processIn a landmark judgement that delivered a big blow to the government the Supreme Court on February 15 annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding saying it violates the Constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to informationA fivejudge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud directed that the SBI must disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties The information should include the date of encashment and the denomination of the bonds and be submitted to the poll panel by March 6This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever