‘The scrapping of the electoral bond scheme has pushed the country towards the black money and everyone will regret it’, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In an interview, Modi also rejected the allegation of Opposition parties that there is no level playing field for them to fight the elections.
He said the Opposition is trying to find excuses, setting a reason for its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
PM Modi said, ‘We learn and improve in decision-making. It is very possible to improve in this too. But today, we have completely pushed the country towards black money. And that is why I say everyone will regret it. When they think honestly, everyone will regret it’.
On the decision to scrap the scheme, Modi said, ‘There has been a discussion in our country for a long time that black money allows for dangerous games to be played during elections. No one denies that money is spent in elections. My party also spends. All parties and all candidates spend, and this money is taken from the people. I wanted to try something. How can our elections be free from this black money? How can there be transparency for people giving donations? This was a pure thought in my mind’.
He said there were 16 companies which bought electoral bonds after facing money laundering cases but 63 % of that amount went to parties other than the BJP. ‘Only 37% came to the BJP, 63% went to them and you are making allegations against us?’ he asked.
He maintained that the money trail in electoral bonds has come out because of that system. ‘This is the success story of electoral bonds. There were electoral bonds so you are getting a money trail of which company gave, how much, and where. If there were no electoral bonds, how would they have found the details? Whether what happened was good or bad can be an issue of debate,” he said.
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