Democracy frozen, BJP-led Central Government misusing agencies: Congress

Ranchi, March 24

Alleging that democracy was “frozen” in the country, the Congress on Sunday claimed that the BJP-led government at the Centre wants to weaken the Grand Old Party financially by freezing its bank accounts.

Congress’ Jharkhand unit chief Rajesh Thakur termed the freezing of its bank accounts as a “well-calculated move” to cripple the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

“Just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, our accounts have been frozen to cripple the party financially. This is not just an attack by the Narendra Modi government on the Congress but an attack on India’s democracy…We are not able to utilise Rs 285 crore lying in our bank accounts,” Thakur told reporters here.

Despite this “systematic effort to cripple the Congress financially”, the party is doing its best for the election campaign.

He alleged that the “accounts of the Congress were frozen at the behest of the BJP, while a recovery of Rs 210 crore has been sought for the delay in filing returns”.

Thakur also accused the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre of “murdering democracy by misusing central agencies”.

“The Income Tax Department has now frozen our bank accounts after seven years on the basis of the 2017-18 case…Democracy has been murdered in the country…,” he said.

Senior Congress leaders, including its president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, had earlier put the spotlight on their party’s precarious financial condition ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The state Congress chief also alleged that “those groups who were providing donations to the BJP were thriving”.

He also claimed that the “misuse of the Central agencies by the BJP and their corruption was evident through the electoral bond scam”.

Besides, Thakur said that the timing of the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal makes it clear that the BJP has “no respect for the democratic process”.