Democracy is considered the best system of ruling in which the people of a country can cast their votes and elect a government of their choice. Basically, it’s a system in which the majority decides all the affairs of the government. Democracy is based on elections which are very costly and require political parties to get donations and invest money in their candidates to win elections and form government.

To give more rights to the political parties and get more donations anonymously, the government of India decided to introduce the Electoral Bond Scheme in January 2018. Under this scheme registered political parties could receive donation from citizens and registered companies in India. Any person or company could buy the electoral bond from the bank and give it to the political party of his/their choice. Electoral bonds were introduced in multiple of 1000, 10000, 1000000, and 10000000 INR (83 INR=1USD). The name of the donor would be kept secret under this scheme. Political parties had to encash them within 15 days. Otherwise, the amount would be transferred to PM care fund which has also been very controversial.

Previously, it was mandatory to disclose the name of the donor who had donated above 20000 INR. Now, it was made to be kept secret by the government formed by the extreme right-wing party. That party received the maximum share from these bonds. It received almost 60 percent from the donation.

As it was very controversial and was akin to bribing the political parties, this order of the government was challenged in the Supreme Court of India. The apex court quashed this order and ordered the Bank to disclose details related to Electoral Bonds in March this year. But, the bank didn’t do it easily. It tried to make excuses saying it would take months to collect the data which was kept in the bank servers. Ultimately, it disclosed the information that was still incomplete. Also, the organization of the business and industries went to court to seek relaxation from not disclosing the name of the companies and to whom they donated the money.

Although the information is still incomplete, it disclosed that companies that were burdened by the heavy debt, had purchased electoral bonds and donated to the political parties. Some companies had only a turnover of 100 crores but purchased bonds worth twice or thrice to their turnover. Some companies were raided by the enforcement agencies of the central government and right after that raid, those companies donated crores worth to the political parties. Others donated to the party and then they were given lucrative government contracts. Even the pharma companies that were involved in controversies during the COVID period also donated huge amounts of money to the political parties.

It is not rocket science to understand how politicians and corporations are conspiring against the people of India. Corporate and politician nexus is harming the democracy which enables these politicians to rise to the top positions. Now they are destroying this democracy and are not hesitating to adopt any means to destroy the freedom of the citizens. Citizens have been given a heavy dose of nationalism and religious hatred. This is the way crony capitalism is destroying the country but the citizens are not paying attention to it. This scam is an example of connivance between the government and the corporate. This is not the first and won’t be the last.