Congress accuses Modi govt of ‘financial terrorism’, claims BJP receives huge donations following I-T, ED raids

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Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday accused the Modi government of capturing democracy through extortion and financial terrorism and claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received huge donations from at least 30 companies following raids by federal probe agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the income tax department. Citing media reports, the Congress president claimed that the BJP received donations from at least 30 firms after it "misused" the CBI, ED and the I-T department for raids against them.

"An autocratic Modi government is capturing democracy through extortion and financial terrorism," Kharge said. The Congress president said that reports also show that some of these firms handed out a heftier amount to the BJP in the months following the searches.

Accusing the Modi government of tricking the nationalised banks into transferring ₹65 crore of the donation received by the Congress to the income tax department, Kharge asked whether the saffron party has ever paid income tax. "On one hand the Modi government wants to steal the hard-earned money of people donated to the Congress party in good faith and on the other hand it threatens corporate firms through ED, CBI, I-T etc to grab lion's share of donations," Kharge stated.

"Looting the Opposition and blackmailing donors to fill the BJP's coffers is a dark phase for our democracy. We shall fight this tooth and nail - both in the court of law and in the court of the people," he added.

Earlier in the day, Jairam Ramesh —the Congress' Rajya Sabha MP — claimed that the Centre forced at least 30 companies to donate ₹335 crore to the BJP following ED, I-T raids. The Congress MP was citing reports from The News