Under the joint auspices of Ranchi District and Metropolitan Congress Committee, a protest was held in front of the main branch of State Bank of India, Court Complex, against not making public the list of donors of the Electoral Bond Scheme.
On the occasion, the leaders said that the Supreme Court has recently banned BJP's electoral bond scheme considering it unconstitutional. The court directed political parties to disclose donations received under the scheme. Besides, SBI was also directed to make the complete information about election donations public before March 6, 2024 and hand it over to the Election Commission. This decision of the Supreme Court was widely welcomed across the country as a decisive step against black money.
The ruling BJP, being the primary beneficiary of the electoral bond scheme, is facing inconvenience after the Supreme Court decision. Political parties collectively received over Rs 12,000 crore since the launch of the electoral bond scheme in 2017. BJP alone received Rs 6,566.11 crore, which is 55 percent of the total amount.
He said that clearly the BJP is concerned about the potential risk to its relations with select corporates if information about donors becomes public. It clearly appears that the Modi government has put pressure on State Bank of India not to share the information. SBI filed an application before the Supreme Court, seeking extension till June 30, 2024, for sharing the details. The delay in sharing details of donors of electoral bonds is suspicious as the country's largest and fully computerized bank should not be required to provide information about electoral bonds for five months. This shows that SBI is being used by BJP. This is being done to hide financial irregularities and the source of black money. The people of the country have come to know how the truth is being hidden by putting pressure on government agencies and institutions.
In the protest, mainly Kamal Thakur of Metropolitan Congress, Prince Bhatt, Jitendra Trivedi Arun Kumar Mishra Haider Ali Akhtar Ali, Ghulam Rabbani Dilawar Khan Ajay Mandal Rahul Verma Chhotu Singh Rohit Singh DK Singh Mohit Gaurav Singh, Mithlesh Tiwari along with other leaders and workers were present.
