The Opposition on Tuesday sought to inject demonetisation into the election discourse, dubbing Narendra Modi’s 2016 decision a scam on the basis of a purported sting operation that shows redundant notes being exchanged with the alleged patronage of some BJP workers in Gujarat on payment of a 40 per cent commission.
Clips of a 30-minute video of the purported sting were aired at a media conference addressed jointly by leaders from the Congress, RJD, JMM and the LJD. They did not authenticate the video, insisting they found it online and it was up to the people to see and decide for themselves.
The clip was posted on Tricolour News Network’s website with the disclaimer that TNN “cannot be held responsible for the content shown in this video”. The narrator describes the exercise as the work of nameless journalists, including some familiar faces from TV news, who had joined hands to tell stories that do not get told because of the purported pressures on corporate media.
The BJP dismissed the sting as fake. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley quipped that every election needs a few humorous breaks. “After the London EVM fiasco, the UPA provided another one today,” he tweeted.
Syed Shuja, who had claimed to have worked for the Election Commission of India, had told journalists in London in January that several polls, including the Lok Sabha polls of 2014, had been rigged and the BJP won by hacking EVMs.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Tuesday took the lead in attacking the BJP over the sting operation. Jaitley picked on Sibal, saying the former minister had attended the London media conference.
“The ‘Fakery Caravan’ of the UPA continues to move. After a fake BSY Diary, a fake sting. When there are no real issues, rely on ‘fakery’. Was the creator of the London fiasco on the EVMs and the fake UPA sting today the same?” Jaitley tweeted, referring to Karnataka veteran B.S. Yeddyurappa’s purported diary notings on alleged payoff to BJP leaders.
The sting follows the trail of note seizures and reports of old currency being exchanged freely in Gujarat despite demonetisation-related restrictions. It is not clear when the sting was conducted.
The narrator reportedly approaches a BJP leader through a contact for exchanging Rs 100 crore, beginning with a trial run of Rs 5 crore. The narrator and an associate are taken to a five-star hotel in Ahmedabad where they claim in the video to have been introduced to another BJP worker.
From there they proceed to the BJP headquarters in the state — Sri Kamalam — near Kobe Circle in Gandhinagar. The two wait in a car while the purported BJP worker goes in, returning an hour later with a suitcase. The group then proceeds to a farmhouse near Ahmedabad.
At this farmhouse, the deal is struck for exchange of notes with plans made for the remaining part of the money amid an indication that the whole operation has the backing of the BJP leadership.
“Nothing will happen to you, you are here trading, don’t worry,” the narrator is told before a cheque is drawn out. Once the drop of the old notes in a hotel is confirmed, the worker pulls out wads of new Rs 2,000 notes and counts it on a machine. While they wait for his senior, the purported BJP worker shares with the narrator a brochure of a building project in Dubai and says a lot of the “commission” money goes into buying property there.
When his senior arrives, the purported BJP worker goes with him into another room. Citing persistent calls, including one from “Kamalam” as an excuse, the narrator’s associate goes into the room to find almost wall-to-wall stacks of new notes.