N The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has amassed over Rs 553 crore as income from unknown sources in 2017-18, which is 80 percent of total such income and four times the aggregate declared by the five other national parties.

According to a report by election watchdog the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released on Wednesday, a total of Rs 689.44 crore was declared as income from unknown sources by the national parties, of which the BJP pocketed Rs 553.38 crore.

Unknown sources are income declared in the IT returns but without giving source of income for donations below Rs 20,000. 

Such unknown sources include donations via Electoral Bonds, sale of coupons, relief fund, miscellaneous income, voluntary contributions, contribution from meetings/morchas. The details of donors of such voluntary contributions are not available in the public domain.

“At present, political parties are not required to reveal the name of individuals or organisations giving less than Rs 20,000 nor those who donated via Electoral Bonds. As a result, more than 50 per cent of the funds cannot be traced and are from ‘unknown’ sources. While the national political parties were brought under the RTI Act by the CIC ruling in June 2013, they have still not complied with the decision,” the ADR said in the report.

As per the report, the total income of six national political parties barring the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in 2017-18 stood at Rs 1,293.05 crore.

While their total income from known donors was Rs 467.13 crore or 36 per cent of the total income, their income from other known sources (sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy) was Rs 136.48 crore or 11 per cent of total income.

The total income of political parties from unknown sources (income specified in the IT Returns whose sources are unknown) was Rs 689.44 crore, which is 53 per cent of the total income of the parties.

Of Rs 689.44 crore as income from unknown sources, share of income from Electoral Bonds was Rs 215 crore or 31 per cent.

The BJP also got over 93 per cent of donations of above Rs 20,000 received by national political parties, during 2017-18, pocketing Rs 437.04 crore of the total Rs 469.89 crore donated by corporates and individuals.

Of the total donations, the BJP got the lion’s share with 2,977 donations followed by the Congress which has declared receiving Rs 26.658 crore

In the last 14 years (2004-05 to 2017-18), the national parties have collected Rs 8,721.14 crore from unknown sources. 

Currently, there are seven national parties – the BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist and All India Trinamool Congress.

NEW DELHI: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Wednesday appointed AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East by her brother and party chief Rahul Gandhi, the party said.

Jyotiraditya Scindia was appointed AICC general secretary for UP West, a party spokesperson said.

The party also replaced Ashok Gehlot as AICC general secretary Organisation with K C Venugopal.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad was appointed AICC general secretary in charge of Haryana, the party said.

Priyanka Gandhi will take over as AICC general secretary for UP East in the first week of February, the party said.

Agencies

Nasheman News : Ahead of Republic Day celebrations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated three new museums inside the Red Fort compound commemorating the nation’s freedom struggle, including one on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army (INA).

The first museum showcases artefacts related to Bose and the INA, including a wooden chair and sword used by Netaji, medals, badges, uniforms and more. The INA trials were held in the Red Fort. 

Modi also unveiled the ‘Yaad-e-Jallian’ museum that will take the visitors through the bloody massacre of the Jallianwala Bagh in 1919. It will also showcase the heroism, valour and sacrifices made by Indian soldiers during World War-1. 

The third museum is dedicated to the historical narrative of the 1857 War of Independence, showcasing the valour and sacrifices made by Indians in the first war of independence against the British. 

The museums have been designed to provide an immersive experience to visitors with photographs, paintings, newspaper clippings, ancient public records, audio and video clips, animation and multimedia.

Nasheman News :  The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday demanded that in view of the latest charges against the electronic voting machines (EVMs) by a hacker in London, the old, tried and tested ballot papers should be used again in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The party has also exhorted all opposition parties to boycott the polls if their demand was not paid heed to.

Rajya Sabha member of AAP and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Singh told IANS that this was necessary to “save democracy and install faith of the people once again in the election process”. 

The national spokesman of the AAP further said that the latest revelations clearly shrouded the neutrality of the EVM’s and hence should be replaced with ballot papers.

“These EVM’s show the benefit of EVM’s going to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and takes away from the opposition a level playing field” he said further. 

Chief spokesman of the party’s state unit, Vaibhav Maheshwari while claiming that the Election Commission was not ready to concede that the EVM’s were open for tampering demanded that the poll panel ensure a “public audit” of the EVM’s.

Raising doubts on the fairies of the EVM’s, the party has demanded that all political parties should write to the Election Commission of India, saying that they will boycott the elections for the Lok Sabha if the EVM’s were used for the polls. 

“There is no other option but to ban the EVM’s and conduct the Lok Sabha and all future elections through ballot paper method” Sanjay Singh said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday had spoken on similar lines and had cited the example of a “developed nation like Japan” which still used the traditional ballot paper method for elections in their country. 

“In view of the recent revelations, further doubts have been created in the minds of people and the EC should taken them into account” the former UP chief minister has said.

The ruling BJP leaders, both in the state and the centre, have trashed the accusations made by the opposition parties and have claimed that by raising doubts on the EVM’s, the opposition was making ground for an almost certain defeat at the hustings in the Lok Sabha 2019 polls.

Nasheman News :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday lashed out at the opposition, with Modi berating the Congress for never having the will or intention to end corruption, and Shah dismissing the January 19 rally of opposition leaders in Kolkata as a “gathbandhan” (alliance) of power-seekers keen on serving their own interests.

Addressing a gathering in Varanasi on the occasion of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Modi said his government has in the last four-and-a-half years succeeded in ending pilferage of public welfare schemes which successive Congress governments since Independence never intended.

Without naming Rajiv Gandhi, Modi said a former Prime Minister had famously said that of the 100 rupees that the Central government doles out for public welfare, only 15 rupees reach the beneficiaries with the rest 85 per cent leaked through corruption.

“It was an admission of a fact, of a system that the party which ruled for so long had given to the country. But even during its later rule of 10-15 years, the party never tried to stop this pilferage. The middle class taxpayer sincerely kept paying taxes and the loot of 85 per cent continued,” Modi said.

“Now I will tell you the present situation. Using technology, we have completely ended this 85 per cent pilferage. If we had not changed the system, the loot would have continued. This could have been done earlier, but there was no intent, no will,” he said.

Modi averred that in the last 4.5 years, his government has disbursed 5.78 lakh crore rupees or 80 billion dollars under various schemes through direct benefit transfer to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

He said if the old system had been allowed to continue, 4.91 lakh crore rupees would have leaked through corruption.

Modi said his government identified and cleaned 7 crore fake beneficiaries who existed only on paper.

Speaking at a party rally in northern West Bengal’s Malda, Shah said the opposition leaders who gathered at the Brigade Parade Ground rally only wanted a “majboor” (helpless) government so that they could “indulge in corruption”, which was not possible under the “majboot” (strong) government of Modi.

“All these leaders of the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) want a loose and helpless government in the country, so that they can indulge in corruption. In contrast, we want a strong government, which can teach a lesson to Pakistan,” Shah said, launching the party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign in the state.

Shah asked the crowd whether they wanted a “majboor” government or a “mazboot” government. As the crowd rooted for a strong government, Shah said: “Who can give a strong government? Only (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi can give a strong government, and none else.”

Rubbishing talks of “gathbandhan”, Shah said: “It is only an alliance of power-seekers and those only interested in serving their own interests.”

“What will they do for the country? The sole agenda of the alliance is to remove Modi.

“We say remove poverty, corruption, unemployment, illiteracy, they say remove Modi. To eradicate these ills, you (the people) have to ensure Modi returns to power, because this weak alliance of leaders won’t be able to deliver,” he said.

Targeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had organised the mega rally of anti-BJP opposition parties at the Brigade Parade Ground on Saturday, Shah said: “Mamata Di, even if you gather 25 leaders, and they hold each others’ hands on the stage, Narendra Modi can’t be removed. Hundred crore Indians are standing rock solid behind Modi.”

Shah also mocked at the prime ministerial ambitions of the various opposition leaders present at the Brigade Parade Ground rally.

“There were 23 leaders on the dais, nine of them are prime ministerial aspirants. Nine PM candidates on one stage! There is a big queue,” he said, tongue in cheek.

He said in contrast the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has only one leader.

“We have only one leader. The entire NDA stands rock solid under the leadership of Narendra Modi,” he said.

Nasheman News : At least 14 people have died in a major fire that broke out on two Tanzanian-flagged ships, both carrying Indian and Turkish crew, in the Black Sea, Crimea Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov said on Tuesday, triggering fears that the fatalities may include Indians.

The Crimean and Russian authorities, however, did not identify any of the victims in the Monday night horror near the Kerch Strait that separates Crimea and Russia. 

The Mumbai-based National Union of Seafarers of India told IANS that they were aware of the casualties but had no information about how many Indians, if any, had perished. 

Preliminary information said the fire erupted due to the failure of a pump being used to transfer fuel between the two vessels – Candy and Maestro – in violation of security regulations, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

The two ships had a total of 32 crew members including Turks, Indians and a Libyan intern. 

According to TASS, Candy had a crew of 17 — eight Indian nationals and nine Turks while the Maestro carried seven Indians, seven Turks and the Libyan.

“… We currently have information about 14 dead sailors… Other sailors have not been delivered to hospitals yet,” the Crimean leader said.

The Indian embassy in Moscow was in touch with the agencies in Russia to get more information, the External Affairs Ministry said in Delhi. 

A spokesman from Russia’s Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport said that 12 people had been rescued and there were no chances of finding any more survivors.

“The fire on ships continues… It will not be extinguished until all the gas burns out,” the spokesman said. 

Officials said that Russian rescuers were trying to reach sailors who jumped into the waters to avoid the fire.

Severe weather conditions prevented rescue ships from bringing victims to the shore for medical treatment, RT News reported. One of the vessels was a liquefied natural gas carrier and another one was a tanker. 

Maritime traffic was not affected by the incident and navigation through the Kerch Strait is still open, the Director of the Crimean Sea Ports said.

Authorities in the Crimean city of Kerch said they were ready to receive the victims. 

The crew members were sailing in “neutral waters” in the Black Sea when the incident occurred, reports said.

The Kerch Strait is a focus of tension between Russia and Ukraine. In November, Russian border guards seized three Ukrainian naval vessels near the narrow channel, which links the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov.

The strait holds strategic importance for both sides. It is an important economic lifeline for Ukraine that allows ships leaving the port city of Mariupol to access the Black Sea.

It is also the the closest point of access for Russia to Crimea, a peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.

Every General Election has its own script. The script is dictated by the prevailing political environment in the country. The nature of the political battle for 2019 is unfolding itself. India’s opposition has a two-fold strategy, firstly, negative anti-Modi agenda and secondly, to combine as many political groups together so as to take the best advantage of the electoral arithmetic.

Anti-Modi campaign

A negative campaign works when there is a strong anti-incumbency either against the government or against the leader. Anti-incumbency is a process by which the government of the day loses an election and the opposition wins by default. Unhappy people vote a government out. When there is a comfort level with the government and its leader, a set of more satisfied people vote a government back.

It is obvious that the level of satisfaction with Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi is very high. If that weren’t so, where was the need for multiple disparate forces to come together against him? It is only the fear of his popularity and comeback that is bringing them together. The Prime Minister remains by far the most popular, decisive and dynamic leader of the present set of politicians. His integrity, emphasis on ethics, decisiveness, growth-oriented politics, has made aspirational India to accept him. He has singularly decimated all caste-based parties and dynastic political groups in 2014. The opposition is making Prime Minister Modi’s continuation in office as a key political issue. We in BJP welcome this agenda being set by the opposition.

The Sham Unity Arithmetic

The Kolkata rally organized by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee was significant. On the surface, it was an anti-Modi rally. It indeed was. More significantly it was also a non-Rahul Gandhi rally. The opposition politics has thrown up four desirous Prime Ministers wishing to challenge Prime Minister Modi. Besides Mamata Banerjee, the other three – Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati and KCR were significantly absent in Kolkata. 2/3rd of those on stage were those who in the past have worked with the BJP. Some octogenarians reached Kolkata to satisfy their late-life ambitions. There was not a single speech reflecting the positive idea which the leaders proposed for the future. Negativism was writ large in their approach. The strategy of each of the four contenders is clear.

The Didi of West Bengal wants a combination of the political adventurists to back her. From the ultra-adventurist Chief Minister of Delhi to the discards of the BJP, there are not too many takers for her. The presence of the National Conference, RJD and DMK leaders was a ritual. Their State alliance interests necessitate them to be more with the Congress. The Behanji of Uttar Pradesh has a clear strategy – play it hard to get. She believes that in India, only caste matters. She is clear that this is her only opportunity. KCR is presently the exponent of a non-Congress, non-BJP front. Is there a space for any such front today? It remains a doubtful proposition. The individual strategy of each one of the above appears to be the same. Replace Modi and get on to the Driver’s seat. The Congress, if it chooses, can at best be the pillion rider.

In the Kolkata rally, negativism was the flavor. The former US Vice-President Spiro Agnew had said in 1970 in the context of the United States – “We have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of Negativism. They have formed their own 4H club the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.”

Every word of this was true in Kolkata.

Except in Uttar Pradesh and to a lesser extent Karnataka, the arithmetical combination does not appear to be any significantly different from 2014. The whole emphasis in these two States is on caste coalitions. Vote transferability in such caste coalitions is not so simple. Local chemistries react differently. Many of these combinations end up as theoretical propositions.

The BJP and NDA have to be prepared for a battle for a 50% vote in the direct fight contest. Many States will still witness triangular contests. If a second term for Prime Minister Modi is the issue, it is advantage BJP. The election will be more presidential. If negativism is the political campaign in an aspirational nation, it won’t work. If arithmetic is the only hope, the Modi chemistry can prevail over it. People are more intelligent than what many politicians think about them. They never choose chaos as an option. What has been presented by the opposition is a post-election leadership battle, no common programme, no policy and a disastrous memory of their administrative disabilities. Experimented, tried and failed ideas only scare voters. They convey no appeal. People want a Five Year Government, not a six month one.

Epilogue

Amongst the early elections that I participated in as a student, was the 1971 General Elections. We in the Opposition had formed a ‘Grand Alliance’ the English Translation of “Mahagathbandhan”. We had powerful leaders and a head-start in the media. Additionally, the Congress had split into two. One of the tallest journalists of that generation, Frank Moraes wrote a daily political column against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Curiously, it was also titled ‘Myth and Reality’. The results were announced, India rejected negativism. The India of 2019 has moved way ahead of India of 1971. Aspirational society never commit a collective suicide. They do not suffer from a Lemming Syndrome.

Agencies