Sanjay Raut jabs PM over SBI move on electoral bonds: ‘Insult to Modi ji…send them to jail’

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday took a sharp jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over SBI's move to seek more time for furnishing the details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties, saying the bank executives have insulted the PM who changed India to ‘Digital India’.

In a social media post on X, Raut said that the SBI chairman and directors should be “punished for insulting our PM Modi.”

In its verdict last month, the Supreme Court directed the State of India to furnish the details to the Election Commission of India by March 6.

The bank moved the top court on Monday seeking an extension of the existing deadline, which it said would not be sufficient for the entire exercise to be completed. In an application filed in the apex court, the state-run bank, which was the sole issuer of now-scrapped electoral bonds, said that the retrieval of information from "each silo" and the procedure of matching the information of one silo to that of the other would be a time-consuming exercise.

“Modiji has changed India now it’s Digital India! And SBI asked Supreme Court time of 4 months to submit details of electoral bond,” Raut said in a swipe at the prime minister.

“How dare they insult our dear PM Modiji who has been working 20 hrs all 365 days 9 years 10 months! And these Kam Chor want 4 months? Send them all to Jail.”

Also Read: Last attempt to hide Modi's ‘real face’: Rahul Gandhi slams SBI move on electoral bonds

In a landmark judgment that delivered a big blow to the government, the Supreme Court on February 15 annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding, saying it violated the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information.

The Opposition leaders have hit out at the SBI for seeking more time from the Supreme Court to furnish the details of the anonymous donation instruments. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the bank's move was a “last-ditch attempt to hide the real face of Modi”.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the Modi government is using the country's largest bank as a shield to hide its "dubious dealings".

Alleging that the BJP was the main beneficiary of the "fraudulent" electoral bonds scheme, Kharge said, "Isn't the government conveniently hiding the BJP's shady dealings where contracts of highways, ports, airports, power plants etc were handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cronies in lieu of these opaque electoral bonds?"

"Experts say that the 44,434 automated data entries of donors can be divulged and matched in just 24 hours. Why does SBI then need four more months to collate this information?" he said.