SC has protected democracy from 'devious machinations' of Modi regime: Congress on electoral bonds issue

New Delhi: The government which came to power on the promise of bringing black money back from Swiss banks in 100 days did whatever it could to hide the data of its own bank from the Supreme Court, the Congress said on Monday as it hailed the dismissal of SBI's plea in the electoral bonds issue.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court rejected the State Bank of India's plea seeking an extension of time and ordered it to disclose the details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission by close of business hours on March 12. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud also directed the EC to publish the details on March 15.

The Congress also said that the apex court has once again come to protect democracy from the "devious machinations" of the current regime and that its decision is a victory for ensuring a level-playing field.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that after the SBI asked for four-and-a-half months to publish the electoral bond details, it became clear that the Modi government was making every possible effort to cover up its dark deeds.

"With the Supreme Court's decision, the country will soon come to know who donated to the BJP through electoral bonds. This is the first step in exposing the corruption, scams and transactions of the Modi government," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on 'X'.

"Even now, the country will not find out which contracts the select capitalist donors of the BJP were giving donations to the Modi government for and the Supreme Court should give appropriate directives for that," he said.

Kharge also cited media reports to allege that the BJP used to "extort donations" by conducting ED-CBI-IT department raids.

"The Supreme Court's decision is a victory for transparency, accountability, and a level-playing field in democracy," the Congress president added.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi too attacked the government over the electoral bonds issue, saying, "Narendra Modi's 'donation business' is about to be exposed!"

The government which came to power by promising to bring back black money from Swiss banks in 100 days "apne hi bank ka data chhipaane ke liye Supreme Court mein sir ke bal khadi ho gayi", Gandhi said in a swipe at the Modi government.

"Electoral Bonds will prove to be the biggest scam in Indian history and will reveal the real face of Narendra Modi in front of the country by exposing the nexus between corrupt industrialists and the government," he said in a post in Hindi on 'X'.

"The chronology is clear -- donate-take business; donate-take protection," Gandhi added.

He alleged that the Modi government showered blessings on those who donated and imposed tax burdens on the general public.

In a post on 'X', Congress general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal, said, "The Supreme Court has once again come to protect Indian democracy from the devious machinations of this regime."

"It was laughable for the SBI to seek an extension on a simple 1 day job. The fact is that the government is scared of all their skeletons tumbling out of the closet," he said.

"This mega corruption scandal, as certified by the Supreme Court, will expose the unholy nexus between the BJP and its corrupt corporate masters," Venugopal said.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said the top court's order "is a tight slap" on the SBI for defying its earlier judgment.

"This was a self-inflicted stain. The order of the Supreme Court today gives an opportunity to SBI to wipe the stain and redeem itself. I am sorry for the Chairman of SBI and the fine band of officers that they placed themselves in this situation," Chidambaram said in a post on 'X'.

The apex court bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, put the SBI on notice that the apex court may be inclined to proceed against it for "wilful disobedience" of its February 15 verdict if the bank failed to comply with its directions and timelines.

In a landmark verdict delivered on February 15, a five-judge Constitution bench had scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13.

Ordering the closure of the scheme, the top court directed the SBI, the authorised financial institution under the scheme, to submit by March 6 the details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, till date to the Election Commission.

On Monday, the bench was hearing the bank's application seeking an extension of time till June 30 to furnish the details.

The bench was also hearing separate pleas seeking the initiation of contempt action against the SBI for alleged willful disobedience of the apex court's February 15 directives.

It observed that SBI's submissions in the application sufficiently indicated that the information which was directed to be disclosed by the court was readily available.

"In view of the above discussion, the miscellaneous application filed by SBI seeking an extension of time for the disclosure of details of the purchase and redemption of electoral bonds until June 30, 2024, is dismissed," it said.