Amit Shah slams Rahul Gandhi over ‘Haftar Wasuri’ jibe over electoral bonds

Amit Shah said electoral bonds should be reformed and not abolished.

New Delhi:

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi calling electoral bonds ‘hafta vasooli’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said Rahul Gandhi needs to clarify from where he got the bonds known as ‘hafta vasooli’ 1600 Crores.

In response, Rahul Gandhi termed the bonds as “hafta vasooli” and also received Rs 1,600 crore. He should clarify from where he got “hafta vasooli”. We assert that it was a transparent donation but if he labeled it as vasooli, he should provide details,” Mr Shah said in a video posted on his X account.

Asked whether the BJP would make its donor list public like other political parties, Mr Shah replied: “I assure you that once the details come out, it will be difficult for the Indian Union to face the public.”

“Electoral bonds were introduced to end the reign of black money in Indian politics, to eradicate black money… Now that the scheme has been scrapped, I fear black money will make a comeback,” Shah said.

He further said that electoral bonds should be reformed instead of abolished.

“I think it should be reformed, not abolished, but it doesn’t make any sense because the Supreme Court has already ruled and I respect that,” he added.

“But my personal view is that bonds have almost put an end to black money in politics. That is why the entire Indian bloc, led by Rahul Gandhi, is against bonds, they want the old system of cutting funds to rule politics again.” Bharatiya Janata Party senior leaders said.

The electoral bond scheme is a way for Indian political parties to obtain funds without revealing the identity of their donors. However, the Supreme Court in a February ruling struck down the Centre’s electoral bond scheme and ordered the SBI to immediately stop issuing electoral bonds.

Following the directions of the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India (ECI) recently uploaded electoral bonds data to its official website. The State Bank of India (SBI) has provided this information, which includes details about these electoral bonds.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)