Point of View : V.V.S. Manian
The Income Tax Department suddenly woke up after 30 years and issued notice to the Congress party to reopen the assessment for the years 1994–95, according to a media report. The notice was issued on March 14, 2024. The Congress party also got a big blow from the Delhi High Court, and now the Income Tax Department added additional pain to the Gandhi family. The IT department issued a notice to the Congress party demanding tax dues worth around Rs. 1700 crore.
The Congress party, already paralyzed by financial worries, finds the new demand for penalties and interest too much to cope with, especially just before the crucial general election of 2024. The amount is likely to increase further.
The Income Tax Department is awaiting a reassessment of income from 2021–22 to 2024–25. The cutoff date will be completed by Sunday. Congress lawyer Vivek Tankha alleged that a new notice worth around Rs 1,700 crore was sent to the party without documents, on Thursday. He said that the main opposition party of the country is being financially strangled, and that too during the Lok Sabha elections.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed the Congress party’s pleas challenging the initiation of reassessment proceedings against it by Income Tax officials for a period of four years. The Congress is weakened today and is paying for its own grave mistakes from the past. The growing trend in politics is an eye-opener that when power shifts, the party or the leader who played a smart game while in office pays a high price at the cost of the nation’s welfare, and progress is justifiably punished. Another devastating volcanic trend is the linking of electoral bonds to corruption. It may erupt in a big way.
Election bonds are the biggest scam.
The world is now more interested in witnessing the political development of superpower India rather than war torn Gaza or Ukraine. Kejriwal’s arrest, right or wrong, the judiciary has to unravel, has evoked responses that are not very conducive for the BJP. All criminals, anti-nationals, and corrupt politicians should have been brought to justice long time ago. Now most of the 007 action of the income tax departments (IB, RAW, and ED) is happening only in the last 12 months. The BJP promised to clean up the system on the first day it stepped on the first step of parliament. The BJP won 282 seats, leading the NDA to a total of 336 seats in the 543 seats in the Lok Sabhs.
The people backed the BJP from that day on the promise to clean India and be a clean party. Now the BJP has joined the bandwagon of typical Indian politicians, compromising for the sweep of the polls. The 400+ mark has become myopia for Modi, and principles are buried in that ambition.
In the melee of the power game of gifts, welcoming anyone into the BJP has certainly raised eyebrows of many in India and abroad. Adding to this is Union Minister Nirmala Sitaraman’s refusal to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the BJP. Following this development, her husband Parkala Prabhakar, a well-read and qualified economist, said that “the election bond issue has caused a stir”. He also added that “the election bond is the biggest scam not only of the country but of the whole world.” He rightly said, “I think the issue of election bonds will continue to be important. In this election, the BJP will not fight with the opposition or others, but because of this issue, there will be a real fight between the BJP and the people of India.’ … I think that due to this issue, the Modi government at the center will be severely punished by the voters”
The EB scam is also getting hotter day by day. Hours before his arrest, electoral bond data released by the Election Commission showed a company linked to another person accused in the Delhi liquor gate scam. P Sarath Chandra Reddy had donated Rs 5 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2022, just five days after Reddy was taken into custody. Another Rs 25 crore was donated to the BJP after Reddy turned approver in the Delhi excise policy case. Who cares? The BJP will certainly win, as the morans in the Gandhi family did well for themselves and their loyalists and left India in a lurch. Indians are cursed to pay for the folly of one party or another. That is the beauty of democracy of the people !!.
