BJP says capping poll expenses will lead to caste-based politics: That's rich, in so many ways
The ruling party wants political funding made more transparent instead, but even there, its record is murky.
On August 27, the Election Commission held a meeting with all national and regional political parties of India. Among the many issues taken up was the question of poll funding, and how much a political party should be allowed to spend on an election. Every party was in favour of fixing a cap on the expense.
All except one — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Not for nothing does the BJP call itself “The Party With A Difference”.
The party has a worthy reason for opposing the move — a funding cap can lead to caste-based politics. Apparently.
Allow Bhupendra Yadav, BJP general secretary, to hold your hand and guide you through the reasoning: “Campaigns led by the political parties are based on vision documents. If this is limited in any sense, it would certainly encourage politics based on caste and individual influence. Therefore, the EC may moot for better transparency than limit the expenses.”
Undoubtedly, the BJP’s intentions are noble. Caste-based politics needs to go. Poll funding should indeed be transparent. But it is the party’s actions that make its claims a bit rich — in more ways than one.
In the four years that it has been in power, the BJP has taken multiple steps to actually make political funding more opaque and allow political parties — all parties, not just itself — escape scrutiny (more on this later).
Also, even if we accept the logic that voters, if not made aware of the goodness of a party’s “vision document” through expensive advertising, will automatically decide to vote based on the candidate’s caste, identity-based politics is already alive and well in India, benefitting, to a good measure, the BJP.
BJP and identity politics
The party’s “vision document” for 2014, for instance, promised a Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the protection of the cow and its progeny, issues dear to a particular section. It is clear that a lot of political parties talking now of caste-based polarisation as the only way to tackle the BJP’s consolidation of Hindu votes thus is a strategy of Mandal 2.0 to tackle such kamandal politics.
If the BJP thus were to take the lead in moving away from identity-based politics, three cheers to it — but I would not put my money on that anytime soon.
BJP and poll-funding transparency
Since the BJP government came to power, it has made certain key changes in the way political parties are allowed to accept funds from corporates and from foreign donors.
Accepting foreign funding was made legal for political parties only in 2010. In 2014, the Delhi high court found both the BJP and the Congress guilty of accepting foreign funds before that year.
In 2018, in the Budget Session of the Parliament, the government passed, without any discussions, amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010, making funds accepted since 1976 exempt from scrutiny.
Before that, in 2017, the Centre removed a ceiling that restricted corporate entities from donating more than 7.5% of their average net profit in the last three years to a political party.
However, it's not that the government hasn't walked the talk on transparency in funding at all.
A measure the government claims will boost transparency is the electoral bonds scheme, introduced in 2017. Basically, instead of donating in cash, people can now buy electoral bonds from authorised banks, which will be redeemable in the bank account of a registered party within a defined time-frame.
So far, so good. But there is a catch: contribution reports of political parties need not mention names and addresses of those contributing through electoral bonds.
Coupled with the 2017 amendment, this means that a company can donate almost all its profits to a political party, with no one being any the wiser.
Nasim Zaidi, who was the Election Commissioner when the electoral bonds scheme was introduced, had raised this fear:“We have written (to the government) that this way, parties will never file contributions received through electoral bonds.”
BJP and money
It is no secret that if poll funding is not capped, before they can woo voters, political parties will have to woo potential donors.
This will allow industrialists and assorted moneybags to enjoy far too much clout in Indian politics. Also, for all pragmatic purposes, corporate houses do tend to favour the party currently in power. For perspective, here are some numbers: in 2016-17 the BJP declared an income of Rs 1,034 crore. This was 81% more than its income the year before, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). This amount was also more than twice the figure raised by all other national parties put together.
Also, the BJP seems to believe in “if you have it, flaunt it”. Thus, in 2014, the party spent Rs 714.28 crore on the Lok Sabha election campaign — more than Rs 200 crore of what the Congress spent.
If there is no cap on poll funding, and the funds are all flowing in one direction, it is not too difficult to conclude that the playing field will be far from level.
But then, that can’t really be the BJP’s fault. Let other political parties raise their level.