MARGAO
Welcoming the Supreme Court’s order on the disclosure of electoral bonds by March 15, leader of the opposition Yuri Alemao has said that "in a democracy, people are the masters and they have the right to know".
He said the Congress government had enacted the Right to Information Act 2005 empowering citizens to exercise their fundamental rights. Reacting to the order of the Supreme Court of India directing the State Bank of India (SBI) to provide all details of electoral bonds within business hours of March 12 and instructing the Election Commission of India (ECI) to upload the information on its website by March 15, Yuri claimed that BJP lacks transparency.
“The Supreme Court has taken a tough stand on the SBI's application for an extension of time till June 30 to disclose details about donors of electoral bonds as well as the political parties which redeemed these electoral bonds,” he said.
He added: “It is important to note that the Supreme Court has dismissed the application of the SBI, pointing out that the data that the apex court had asked them to give is already available with the bank as per their own affidavit. How can the government now expect people to trust SBI after the observations of the Supreme Court?”
Saying that the BJP government has been destroying each and every institution in the country in the last 10 years, Yuri said, “Today, it is clear that the BJP government is also interfering in banks. This is alarmingly dangerous.”
The opposition leader has made a fervent plea to the Goans to understand the ulterior motives of the BJP and teach them a lesson in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, saying, “We need to protect the Constitution and democracy from the clutches of dictators.”
