Hindutva-Corporate Nexus Revealed
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THE details of the electoral bonds scheme released so far have strikingly confirmed the existence of the communal-corporate, or more specifically, the Hindutva-corporate nexus in the country.
As per the data available, the BJP has been the prime beneficiary of the bonds scheme getting Rs 8,252 crores since the inception of the bonds in 2018. This amounts to 50 per cent of the total amount redeemed through bonds. This was a cosy arrangement between the ruling party and the corporates, which was legitimised by the Modi government. The business of giving kickbacks on contracts and a commission on profits made are the stock-in-trade between corporates and a bourgeois government. They constitute the underbelly of political corruption. It required the genius of the Modi government to legalise and legitimise such corruption.
It would be wrong to portray the corporates as innocent victims of extortion. A bulk of funds provided through the electoral bonds to the BJP come under the category of kickbacks and commissions. They are also given to earn goodwill for future favours. Most of the bonds contributed by the Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL), a Hyderabad-based company, falls in this category. For instance, the MEIL got two separate packages for the Thane-Borivali tunnel project with a total bid of Rs 14,400 crore. A large sum was paid through electoral bonds by the firm months before the contract. The same pattern applies to the Zojila road tunnel project. Some of the mining companies, which got clearances for projects in forest areas, paid through electoral bonds to the ruling party.
Another sector where a number of companies subscribed to electoral bonds is the pharmaceutical sector. Here, 35 pharma companies have contributed around Rs 1,000 crore through bonds. Of these, so far seven companies have been identified who had been investigated for producing poor quality drugs when they purchased bonds. This presumably helped them to avoid regulatory action for substandard drugs.
While these are examples of quid pro quo that is built into the scheme of anonymous bonds, the Modi government added another ominous dimension to this fund raising technique. We have already seen how central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and Income Tax department are utilised to target political opponents, independent news media and civil society organisations. Such lawless use of agencies was creatively applied for extortion of funds from corporates. Malpractices by corporates, real or imagined, are utilised to raid, investigate and attach funds and properties. Owners of such companies are then found to buy electoral bonds and make generous contributions to the ruling party at the centre. There are two aspects to such extraction of funds – one is the crime of extortion through illegal threats and blackmail, in which governmental agencies are complicit; the other is those who have actually broken the law and committed serious malpractices are allowed to get away with bribes being paid.
In a mockery of the claims about transparency and making clean money enter the political system, enough evidence has surfaced about shell companies being used to funnel large amounts of black money and facilitating money laundering. For instance, it has been found that some companies which have made no profits have contributed large amounts through bonds. A number of companies donated more money than they earned in profits over the preceding four years.
That the electoral bonds scheme was a product of the Hindutva-communal nexus becomes clear from the reaction of the business associations on the one hand and the RSS on the other.
The three apex industry bodies – the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) – jointly sought to file an intervening application in the Supreme Court seeking to stop the disclosure of the unique identification numbers of the electoral bonds. The industry bodies talked of “the breach of confidentiality agreements” which “would undermine the rule of law and present grave implications for the industries interests”. After being involved in various quid pro quo deals, the corporates do not want any exposure of their underhand dealings. The Supreme Court, however, refused to entertain the application.
As far as the RSS is concerned, after the three-day meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale defended electoral bonds by saying that, “Electoral bond is an experiment done with checks and balances and it is not that it has suddenly been introduced today. ….Whenever a change is introduced, questions are raised. Questions were also raised when EVMs were introduced”. Thus for the RSS, the electoral bonds scheme was a worthwhile experiment and it should not be jettisoned. This is an implicit admission by the RSS that the corporates are allied to the Hindutva project.
Now that the Supreme Court has ordered the State Bank of India to make a complete disclosure of all electoral bonds’ data, including their unique alphanumeric numbers to the Election Commission by March 21, the matching of the alphanumeric code of the bond issued and the bond redeemed will reveal exactly who gave what amount to which party at a particular time. This will only further confirm the deep nexus between the Hindutva party and the corporates.
The question then arises how to deal with the wealth of information regarding the possible wrongdoing, of corrupt kickbacks, money laundering and extortion through blackmail and coercion. The only possible course would be to have a court-supervised investigation and on that basis initiate legal proceedings where required.
(March 20, 2024)
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