The Congress has strongly condemned the BJP-led Centre for allegedly indulging in “financial terrorism” against the party. Accusing the government of “looting” over Rs 65 crore, the Congress asserted that the BJP was crippling Congress’ ability to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections effectively.
At a press conference held at the AICC headquarters, key leaders including Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal, and Ajay Maken highlighted the severity of the situation. Ramesh decried what he termed as “tax terrorism attacks” targeting the Congress.
The Congress alleged that the BJP was trying to “murder democracy” and drag the country to a “dictatorship raj”.
“A conspiracy is being hatched to make the Congress financially crippled. This is an attempt to murder democracy,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh said that the BJP was rattled by the response to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the farmers” movement and such actions are a result of that.
Echoing Ramesh”s sentiments, Maken underscored the gravity of the situation, accusing the BJP of orchestrating a calculated campaign to financially undermine the principal opposition party. Maken said the BJP-led Centre had “looted” about Rs 65 crore from its accounts through the Income tax department.
He emphasized that the timing of these actions, just ahead of the crucial electoral period, was deeply suspicious and indicated a blatant attempt to disrupt the democratic process.
The BJP government has started “financial terrorism” against the principal opposition party, Maken alleged.
Venugopal emphasized the sinister nature of the government”s actions, labeling them as an assault on democratic principles and values.
“They (government) are trying to shut the voice of the Opposition. Clearly this is an example of dictatorship. The BJP is dragging the largest democracy in the world to a “dictatorship raj”. This type of low-level attack has never happened in history. We will fight it out,” he said.
The Congress party detailed the sequence of events, highlighting the abrupt issuance of notices by the Income Tax Department to several branches associated with the party. The subsequent freezing of accounts and transfer of funds to government coffers were characterized as brazen acts of overreach, further eroding trust in the democratic institutions.
Maken questioned if the BJP has ever paid income tax.
“Do we have democracy in our country? Is it a level-playing field?” he said.
Maken explained that the party filed the return on February 2, 2019, but “the proceedings of taking out our money took place five years after, just two weeks before the elections are to be announced”.
On February 14, the IT Department issued a notice to four bankers of 11 branches of AICC, Youth Congress and NSUI. The Income tax department has made a demand of more than Rs 210 crore, the party said.
Since no bank had such amounts in our accounts, our accounts were virtually frozen and thus inoperable, it said in a statement.
“We approached the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, requesting it to grant a stay; the IT officials clarified before the Tribunal that it was an exercise to ‘mark the lien’; thus, the account was not frozen,” the party said.
“But brazenly, the IT Department went a step ahead and transferred our funds to the government accounts,” it alleged.
