WHAT is most surprising about the current -re-election politics is that the Opposition has launched a massive campaign alleging corruption in the electoral bonds issue by the ruling party at the Centre. When the issue is subjudice, when the honourable Supreme Court is looking at the issue in complete detail, when it is not sparing anybody from being questioned, then every stake-holder must wait patiently for the judicial outcome. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be happening -- which is truly surprising for the people. Several petitions are being heard by the honourable Supreme Court against what is alleged to be corruption of unprecedented scale. The proceedings until now demonstrate that the honourable Supreme Court is proceeding with abundant caution so that the process does not trip at a hidden obstacle. The State Bank of India (SBI) that is handling the electoral bonds have been following the instructions of the honourable judges to the hilt and is providing every possible detailed asked for. When such an intensive and extensive process is underway, the expectation is that the political community, too, demonstrates enough sense of patience and restraint and conducts itself with a greater responsibility.

 

However, this expectation of the larger society does not seem to be realised simply because the Opposition is in a great hurry to take the advantage of the pre-poll conditions and slam the Modi Government as much as it can. The thought and action of the Opposition to take the legal battle to the streets, however, may not help in finding a solution or even in deciding who actually the guilty is or whether there is any guilt at all -- on the part of the handling agency or the Government or basically if there is a fault with the law about electoral bonds. A common sense argument is that the electoral bonds are the safest and ‘white’ or official way of making political contributions by any party or person or organisation in any domain. Thus, as the argument would proceed, there appears to be no scope of making allegations of corruption. The details of the electoral bonds now available in public domain indicate without fuss that many political parties have received funds through the arrangement.

 

If the Bharatiya Janata Party, the country’s biggest political organisation, has received a lot of funds, then the Congress, too, has garnered a lot of money through the same arrangement. In fact, the funds the Congress party has garnered is proportionately bigger than the funds the BJP has collected through bonds. For, given the fantastic numbers of elected representatives of the BJP in different forums nationwide, its collection is proportionately not as much as the one garnered by the Congress party. Yet, even as the Opposition has launched its campaign to accuse the Modi Government in general and the BJP in particular of massive corruption, it appears to have decided to ignore the process of law going on at the Supreme Court. The Opposition seems to have got blinded to the possibility of the common people turning their backs to the Opposition in bigger numbers in the elections ahead. Possibly, the Opposition is taking a blind leap of negative faith, if its actions can be categorised in that manner.