"You give me khoon (blood), and I promise you aazadi (freedom)” is passe. A reworked maxim is in place - You give me protection money, and I promise you freedom from government probe agencies. It’s an unexplained spectacle of merging two divine functions of destruction and protection into one spiritual force.
Six years after electoral bonds worth thousands of crores, purchased by shell companies, private entities, benamis and political brokers, undisputedly funded political parties, the Supreme Court has finally struck them down as unconstitutional. Just as the 2024 election juggernaut is all set to thunder through the length and breadth of the country.
The newly-constituted three-member Election Commission of India barely took a day to fix the schedule for the world’s largest festival of democracy. Nearly 100 crore people will line up to exercise their franchise in seven phases. Instead of the ballot boxes transported in bullock carts in those days, EVMs go by air.
Technology and infrastructure are way superior today. Yet the election process is spread over 35 days in seven phases. How many political parties with a national ambition have the deep pockets to sustain the money-guzzling election season of over two months? The data published on the electoral bonds gives you a clear picture.
If funds raised through bonds are illegal, why are we not selling them back to the buyers? In 2012, the apex court upheld a Sebi order on the Sahara Group and directed the group entities to refund investors with interest of nearly Rs 25,000 crore. In the electoral bonds case, elections after elections were funded by illegal money. BJP has put up a defence, saying its 303 MPs garnering half of the total funds is no big deal since the ‘per-capita’ figure is way below that of the Congress, which won only 52 seats.
Isn’t the funding meant for all who stand for elections and not just for the elected candidates? It may sound a trifle baffling that in a country that was allegedly riled by the news of shady shell companies puffing up Adani shares in the stock market, the funding of political parties and the democratically-elected government by similar companies is swept under the carpet. More so when funding follows on the heels of raids by the obsequious central probe agencies on companies and their promoters. The move to muffle the bond details still has the potential to trigger a Streisand effect.
The nucleus of the elections once fought in the Hindi heartland seems to have now shifted to the south of Vindhyas. While Rahul Gandhi is ensconced in the safety of Wayanad, Narendra Modi is expending most of his energy in Tamil Nadu and Kerala with his customary ‘Vanakkam’ with the ultimate aim of breaking the two tough nuts. Some of his cabinet colleagues have thrown themselves into the southern cauldron too.
Hats off to BJP’s resolve to repeal its north Indian party tag. The Ram temple, CAA, abrogation of Article 370 and India’s global image are surely saleable narratives in its traditional markets, but issues related to unemployment, communal disparities, inflation, a subservient media and the undermining of institutions ring loud in this part of the world.
In Tamil Nadu, BJP’s campaign against corruption by DMK and dynasty politics may have broken some new ground. But the ground realities barely mirror the enthusiasm exuded by the party. DMK, a part of INDIA alliance, looks like a formidable force in the three-pronged contest. The EPS-led AIADMK, staying away from BJP for now, has a tough fight at hand to prevent the ground slipping away from under its feet. BJP may increase its vote share, but is unlikely to make any major dent in the Dravidian hold, at least in the 2024 elections.
Anto T Joseph
Resident Editor, Tamil Nadu
anto@newindianexpress.com
@AntoJoseph/ Twitter