Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehad ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday, March 15, slammed, Prime Minister Narender Modi after data revealed that his party received Rs 6,060.50 crore as donations in the form of electoral bonds since 2019.
Asaduddin Owaisi was speaking at Jalsa Youm-Ul-Quran at the Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad.
Political parties received more than Rs 12,769 crore as donations from corporates and individuals through electoral bonds since 2019. TMC, Congress, BRS and BJD were leading receivers of donations in the form of electoral bonds, revealed data published by the State Bank of India (SBI).
The data was revealed by the SBI after the Supreme Court struck down the Union government’s Electoral Bonds scheme terming it as unconstitutional.
While stating that AIMIM has received no such bonds, Asaduddin Owaisi accused the BJP of selling its morals to the companies for monetary benefits. “Narender Modi had claimed that he would not take bribes or let anyone take bribes (Na khaunga na, khaaney dunga.) Let me modify it for him. He will not take bribes or let anyone take bribes unless…they give him (electoral) bonds.”
“Agar koi paise dera aapku, toh phukat mei toh nahi deta na mere bhai. Agar koi badi company ka malik inko paise dera (political parties) aisa toh nahi dera na ke abba margaye unkey naam pe deroun aapkey naam pe sadqa. Jab ino dere, toh Modi ji inku kuch dere. (If someone gives you money, they will not give it to you for free. If the owner of a big company is giving these political parties money, they aren’t actually donating to them. When they are giving away their money, Modi is giving back to them.),” said Asaduddin Owaisi.
“Ye companies bolre, ‘Ek haath se dena, do haath se jeb mei daal lena’. Aur ye parties bolrey ‘aap hamko electoral bond do, jo chahe lelo. (These corporates are giving the parties money with one hand and filling their pockets with both. The motto of these political parties is ‘You give me money, I give you everything.),” he added further.
While stating that he would never sell his beliefs for money, he slammed the political parties for terming the AIMIM as a ‘B team’.
What is the Electoral Bonds scheme?
An electoral bond allows individuals, corporations or organisations to contribute or donate money to any political party anonymously by purchasing bonds from the SBI.
According to the scheme, if the money donated is not encashed within 15 days, it will automatically be transferred to the Prime Minister Relief Fund.
The electoral bond scheme was introduced in the Parliament as part of the 2017 Union Budget by then Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
According to the data, released by the SBI, political parties encashed a total of 20,421 electoral bonds in the last five years. Of these, 12,207 bonds were of Rs 1 crore each; 5,366 bonds (Rs 10 lakh each); 2,526 (Rs 1 lakh each); 219 bonds (Rs 10,000 each); and 103 were of Rs 1,000 each.
The BJP took the lead and received a maximum of Rs 60,60,51,11,000 as donations through electoral bonds, which is almost half of the total amount.
Following is a list of donations received by each political party through electoral bonds.
| Political Party | Electoral Bonds (in crores) | Percentage |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 6,060.50 | 47.46 |
| Trinamool Congress | 1,609.50 | 12.60 |
| Congress | 1,421.90 | 11.14 |
| Bharat Rashtra Samithi | 1,214.70 | 9.51 |
| Biju Janata Dal | 775.50 | 6.07 |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 639.00 | 5.00 |
| YSR Congress Party | 337.00 | 2.64 |
| Telugu Desam Party | 218.90 | 1.71 |
| Shivsena | 159.40 | 1.24 |
| Rashtriya Janata Dal | 72.50 | 0.57 |
| Aam Aadmi Party | 65.50 | 0.51 |
| Janata Dal (Secular) | 43.50 | 0.34 |
| Sikkim Krantikari Morcha | 36.50 | 0.29 |
| Nationalist Congress Party | 30.50 | 0.24 |
| Janasena Party | 21.00 | 0.16 |
| Samajwadi Party | 14.10 | 0.11 |
| Janata Dal(United) | 14.00 | 0.11 |
| Jharkhand Mukti Morcha | 13.50 | 0.11 |
| Shiromani Akali Dal | 7.30 | 0.06 |
| All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 6.10 | 0.05 |
| Sikkim Democratic Front | 5.50 | 0.04 |
| Rashtriya Janta Dal | 1.00 | 0.01 |
| Maharashtrawadi Gomntak Party | 0.60 | 0.01 |
| Jammu And Kashmir National Conference | 0.50 | 0.00 |
| Nationalist Congress Party Maharashtra Pradesh | 0.50 | 0.00 |
| Goa Forward Party | 0.40 | 0.00 |
According to the data uploaded by the poll panel, the buyers of electoral bonds include Grasim Industries, Megha Engineering, Piramal Enterprises, Torrent Power, Bharti Airtel, DLF Commercial Developers, Vedanta Ltd., Apollo Tyres, Lakshmi Mittal, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wine, Welspun, and Sun Pharma.
