Political Parties are spending heavy sums every year for their activities  but the source of their Funding is mostly unknown.  Nation’s Two biggest political parties, Congress and BJP have spent between Rs 10,000 crore and Rs 15,000 crore in  last five years respectively. It would be needless to say that most of these are Black Money earned via corruption. In an article Ankit Lal, a social activist throws some light on the earnings of various political parties and the origin of Black Money.
It didn’t come as a surprise to me. Political parties across India amassing huge money, without disclosing an overwhelming majority of donors is no secret. Reports say 90 per cent of people who contributed to these parties are unnamed.
This puts a big question mark on the transparency and fairness of the collection process of the political parties. The coffers of political parties have swelled while the country has been going through an  economic crunch.
The Congress has grown richer in the last five years and is the top money-gatherer with Rs 1,662 crore till 2011-12 and the Bharatiya Janata Party is in second place with Rs 852 crore. But let me state that this illegal gathering of funds is spread across the political landscape of our country.
Any political activity needs funds; from mobilization to travel and to other expenses. But as the reports suggest the two biggest political parties, Congress and BJP, by conservative estimates have spent between Rs 10,000 crore and Rs 15,000 crore in five years respectively. If we go by these reports then the submissions by the Congress and the BJP to the Income Tax Department ie: Rs 1,662 crore and Rs 852 crore in past five years are completely untrue.Â
The issue it seems is much graver than what appears with the submissions made to the Income Tax Department.This alleged forgery can also understood from the fact that the government has put the demand of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an NGO campaigning for transparency in funding of political parties in cold storage.
The ADR chief, whose organization had written to the Central Board of Direct Taxes demanding a probe into undisclosed contributions to parties, says they have received no response even after more than a year had passed. It is obvious that the CBDT is a government organization which comes under the Finance Ministry headed by various Congress leaders from time to time. Currently the ministry is headed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is a Congressman. Will he allow the CBDT to act on the suggestions made by the ADR. The answer is simple no.
The ADR chief says sources of unknown donations needs to be tracked to curb black money infiltrating into the coffers of political parties. But will the government initiate any such move? At the core of corruption in the political parties is the gap between the real expenses and what is revealed. Like ADR chief says this is where black money comes into play. It is, therefore, not difficult to understand that why many politicians with close proximity to corporate get unusual prominence in their political parties. If you ponder I am sure you would find many such examples.
This alleged nexus between the politicians is a symbiotic one in reality. While huge donations are made mostly in cash to the parties by these corporate in return contracts and compensations are granted to them. Most of the times this alleged nexus results in a huge loss to the public exchequer. One wonders was this nexus active when the coal ministry under the Prime Minister gave coal blocks to underwear and tobacco making companies. These companies after receiving the coal blocks had immediately sold them to other companies and made huge profits. Did the Congress party share the profits, one wonders?
In the Scorpene submarine deal, the chief of Thales— a French company— which sold the submarines to India, clearly mentions four per cent commission. Who received this commission? The accused in the case were shielded by the then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Ironically, Mukherjee is set to become the President of our country.
It is the opportune time to bring the Indrajit Gupta Committee Report from the oblivion. The report published in 1998 produced a comprehensive set of proposals regarding electoral reforms in India. One of the major proposals of the report which has been dumped in the cold storage was that the elections should be funded by the state itself and not by the political parties. The committee believed that such measure would end the issue of corruption in the fund-raising of political parties.
Our periodic outbursts mostly when such reports are made public are not enough. We need a consistent effort to weed out corruption from India. Contemplate, act and be the change!