Modi laundered money via bonds, says Yechury

CHENNAI: CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday urged the voters not to waste their vote on AIADMK, a former ally of the BJP, as it would only divide the anti-BJP votes and to ensure that no BJP MPs are elected from the state like 2019.

Addressing an election rally at Tana Street in support of DMK’s Chennai Central candidate Dayanidhi Maran, he said that voters should rally behind the DMK-led alliance to ensure the defeat of the BJP in all the constituencies of the state to save the secular and democratic character of the country.

Yechury said that even though Modi claims that his party would win 400 seats, desperation to come back to power is there for everybody to see. “I think he has come to Tamil Nadu eight times. From here, he has gone to Rajasthan saying that he has launched a crusade against corruption to jail every corrupt leader. But, what is the actual truth? In the history of Independent India, this government led by Narendra Modi is the most corrupt ever. The loot which is taking place in the country is unprecedented,” he said.

Hitting out at the BJP government on the corruption in the electoral bonds received by it, he said that CPM is the only national party that has not taken a single paisa from the electoral bonds and it opposed it from day one as it is a legalisation of political corruption. “The methodology of how Narendra Modi is making money of the electoral bonds has been exposed,” he said, adding that the Modi government has indulged in mafia-style extortion by using the central agencies to raid the corporations and file charges against them to exhort money through the bonds.

“The corporates who have violated the laws are donating the money through the bonds to avoid penal action. BJP has made nearly Rs 10,000 crore through the electoral bonds,” he said. He questioned how the companies brought the bonds multiple times their profits. “Loss-making companies donated money through the bonds. Where did they get money from? Is this a foreign money? Is this money linked with the drug trade? Is this money linked with international rackets? These are grave matters how can a loss-making company buy electoral bonds worth 1000s of crore and donate to the BJP? This money laundering that the Modi government has permitted is the worst form of corruption that has been institutionalised in our country,” he added.