Amit Shah counters Rahul Gandhi’s claim of electoral bond extortion by pointing out opposition’s involvement.

In an interview with NDTV, Union Home Minister Amit Shah responded to the Opposition’s criticism of the now-scrapped electoral bonds system. He questioned whether the Opposition parties would also consider the donations they received through bonds as “extortion”. Shah’s comments came as a direct rebuttal to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had previously labeled the electoral bonds system as the “world’s biggest extortion scheme” and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being the “champion of corruption”. Amit Shah challenged Rahul Gandhi and the Opposition parties to acknowledge whether they too had received donations through bonds and whether they would describe it as extortion.

He emphasized that their parties had received donations through bonds as well and suggested that the amount they received in proportion to the number of MPs was higher than what the BJP had received. Shah dismissed the allegations of corruption against his party and accused the opposition of attempting to sow confusion, asserting that they would not be successful. The Supreme Court delivered a significant verdict on February 15, scrapping the electoral bonds scheme on the grounds that it infringed on citizens’ right to information. The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, deemed the scheme unconstitutional and arbitrary, expressing concerns about potential quid pro quo arrangements between political parties and donors.

The court also highlighted that the scheme’s objective of combating black money and protecting donor confidentiality could not justify its existence. It emphasized that electoral bonds were not the sole solution for curbing black money. Subsequently, data released by the State Bank of India and made public by the Election Commission of India revealed that the BJP had received the highest amount of funds through electoral bonds, totaling Rs 6,986.5 crore since their introduction in 2018. The Trinamool Congress followed with Rs 1,397 crore, and the Congress received Rs 1,334 crore through these bonds.