“Everyone will regret it”: PM on scrapping electoral bond scheme

New Delhi: Supreme Court’s decision to scrap electoral bonds will be regretted by everyone in the future, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an interview with ANI

In the interview he said that the landmark decision of the Supreme Court to scrap the election is one that “will be regretted by everyone” and will push the country towards black money, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said, “…today we have completely pushed the country towards black money. That is why I say everyone will regret it. When they think honestly later, everyone will regret it…”

During his interview with the news agency, the Prime Minister said that his government launched the electoral bond scheme to fight back against the use of black money in election campaigns. He also added that he had never thought of it as a perfect way to achieve his goal.

“We were looking for a way. We found a small way… never claimed this was absolute,” he said.

He also accused the opposition of spreading lies about the electoral bonds scheme. Modi pointed out that the opposition parties, combined, got two-thirds of the total amount.

“BJP has 37% of the amount, 63% to the opposition,” he added.

While lashing out at the opposition leaders, the PM said, “…If there were no electoral bonds, who would have had the power to find out where the money came from and where it went? This is the success story of electoral bonds that there were electoral bonds, that is why you are getting a trail of money…The concern I have is that I never say that there are no deficiencies in decision-making. In decision-making, we learn and improve. It is very possible to improve in this too. ”

On February 15, the apex court struck down the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional and asked the State Bank of India and Election Commission of India to disclose all details of bonds purchased and encashed since then.

The decisions which came ahead of the general elections were widely welcomed by the opposition parties. As the data by SBI revealed that the BJP was the largest beneficiary of electoral bonds, the INDIA bloc has been criticising the ruling party.