In a politically loaded move, the Income-Tax department has raised a demand of ₹210 crore in penalty and as dues from the Congress, which the party says has effectively stalled the operation of all its bank accounts. On the face of it, the action seems disproportionate to the charges, and an appellate tribunal has subsequently allowed the political party to operate the accounts on the condition that an amount of ₹115 crore is kept in lien until the case is heard next week. The party says it does not have such amounts in its current accounts. Just weeks before the general election, the principal Opposition party of the country finds itself restrained by a central agency. It is worrying that this falls into a pattern of enforcement agencies targeting those fighting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Income-Tax department action against the Congress relates to tax returns filed by the party for FY2018-19. The party had missed the deadline of December 31, 2019 by about 45 days to file the returns. Of the receipts of ₹199 crore recorded in the income-tax returns, ₹14,40,000 was in cash, which the party says was given by its Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assembly. The demand of a penalty of ₹210 crore is for a 45-day delay in filing the returns, and a discrepancy, if at all, of ₹14.40 lakh. The Income-Tax department’s action appears high-handed and is clearly meant to paralyse the Congress.
This unusual I-T move came to light a day after the Supreme Court of India expanded on the link between money and politics in a verdict that held the secretive electoral bond scheme to be unconstitutional. Money has the power to influence politics, and disparity in access to funds can create political inequality and distort electoral outcomes. The Court’s judgment echoed this in its verdict which held the electoral bond scheme as violative of fundamental rights. The BJP has championed the scheme that allows anonymous donors to contribute unlimited amounts to parties as an instrument to combat electoral corruption. Stalling the bank account of the Opposition, regardless of the Income-Tax department’s allegations, cannot be viewed as routine law enforcement. Weaponisation of the law against political opponents of the ruling party has become a serious threat to India’s democracy. The brazen partisanship of central agencies that target the critics of the government is undermining the political system. The claim that all this is being done for fighting corruption and ensuring transparency cannot be taken at face value. All stakeholders must be accountable in a democracy, and the ruling party more so. When accountability is invoked for scuttling the political activity of the Opposition, that can only bode ill for democracy.
