Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Supreme Court’s rejection of the SBI’s plea to defer the publication of electoral bonds data would “expose the nexus between the Government and the corrupt industrialists and bring Modi’s real face before the nation”.

“Narendra Modi ke chande ke dhandhe ki pol khulne waali hai (Modi’s donation racket is about to be unravelled),” Rahul posted on X.

“Chronology is clear: Chando do, dhandha lo, protection lo (Give donations, obtain business and enjoy protection). Modi Government means generosity for donors and tax burden on people.”

Rahul added: “The Government that came to power promising to bring black money from Swiss banks within 100 days turned upside down to stand on its head to hide the data of its own bank.

“Electoral bonds will prove to be the biggest scam of India’s history, which will expose the nexus between the Government and the corrupt industrialists and bring Modi’s real face before the nation.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “The SBI plea to seek four months to reveal the data on electoral bonds after a categorical Supreme Court order made it clear that the Modi government is desperately trying to hide its black deeds. But the Supreme Court has ensured the nation will soon know the list of donors. This will be the first step towards exposure of the Modi government’s corruption and wheeling-dealing.”

Kharge hailed the Supreme Court order as a victory for transparency and accountability, but added: “Unfortunately, the country will still not know how a few select industrialists paid the Modi government for which projects and contracts.

“The Supreme Court should pass directives for that also. After all, media reports have revealed how BJP extracted money from companies using ED-CBI and income-tax.”

Former finance minister P. Chidambaram posted: “The judgement/ order of the
Supreme Court today is a tight slap on the SBI for its defiance of the earlier judgement/ order of the Supreme Court. This was a self-inflicted stain.

“The order of the Supreme Court today gives an opportunity to SBI to wipe the stain and redeem itself. I am sorry for the Chairman of SBI and the fine band of officers that they placed themselves in this situation.”

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh taunted the Prime Minister over his claims of being a crusader against corruption.

“The man who once famously said ‘Na khaunga, na khane dunga (Won’t loot, nor allow anyone to loot)’ has been insistent on ‘Na bataunga, na dikhaunga (Won’t tell, nor show)’ when it comes to the source of his chunavi chanda (poll donations),” he said.

Ramesh accused the government of pressuring the SBI to try and postpone the disclosure of the electoral bond data until the elections had ended.

“Salute to the Supreme Court for seeing through the obvious dishonesty of the SBI arguments. The Supreme Court’s verdict is halfway to the truth — we would have liked for there to be complete transparency in exactly who donated how much to which political party. Nevertheless, we welcome this verdict,” he said.