Lok Sabha polls | 'Criminal act by Modi, Shah': Congress slams govt over bank account freeze, BJP hits back

The Congress, which is the main opposition party in India, slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the freezing of its bank accounts weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the country. Addressing a party press conference in New Delhi, Congress Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi said, "This is a criminal action on the Congress party, a criminal action done by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister...So, the idea that India is a democracy is a lie. There is no democracy in India today."

"Twenty per cent of India votes for us and we are not able to pay Rs 2 for anything. It has been orchestrated to cripple us in the elections. Even if our bank accounts are unfrozen today, a huge amount of debt damage has been done to Indian democracy," Gandhi, the former party president, said.

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"What’s interesting to me is that there are institutions in this country that are supposed to protect the democratic framework. There is an Election Commission in the country but it has not even said anything; that you have frozen the bank accounts of one of the biggest political parties and largest opposition in the country," he added.

'Systematic effort by PM to cripple Cong financially'

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was present at the press conference, said on Thursday that a systematic effort was underway by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cripple the Congress financially.

"However, even under these most challenging circumstances, we are doing our very best to maintain the effectiveness of our election campaign. On one hand, there is the Electoral Bond issue which has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Electoral Bonds benefitted the BJP hugely. On the other hand, the finances of the principal opposition party - the INC - are under a determined assault. This, we all believe, is unprecedented and undemocratic," she told reporters.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, meanwhile, appealed to the constitutional bodies to allow the Congress to access its bank accounts if they wanted free and fair elections.

"Defreeze our accounts to ensure a level playing field in polls," Kharge said.

BJP hits back

Hitting back at the Congress' remarks over its bank accounts being frozen, the BJP said that in the utter desperation of defeat, the Congress created an alibi.

"As far as bank account freezing is concerned if you are a defaulter, you will be treated like one. The sense of entitlement that the Gandhi family had that even if we were a defaulter, provisions of the law of this country would not apply to us. The era of this kind of entitlement is now over under PM Narendra Modi..." BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters.