Congress on I-T radar

BARELY a couple of months before the General Election, the Congress finds itself in the crosshairs of the income tax (I-T) department. The party claimed on Friday that the department had frozen its main bank accounts, adversely affecting its political activity as it was unable to pay salaries or use the funds received under its crowdfunding scheme. According to the Congress, drastic action was taken by the authorities on ‘flimsy grounds’ — late filing of I-T return for 2018-19. The party has approached the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which has allowed it to operate the accounts for the time being with a lien rider, even as further hearing will be held next week.

Despite a series of electoral setbacks in recent years, the Congress continues to be the country’s main Opposition party. Attempts to disrupt its everyday functioning are uncalled for. The authorities’ apparent overzealousness reeks of partisanship. Earlier this week, the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit alleged that the I-T department had sent notices to some Congress leaders in a bid to intimidate them ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. These leaders were subpoenaed purportedly in connection with an I-T raid conducted in Bhopal in April 2019. The state unit also questioned the decision to summon them to New Delhi instead of the local offices of the department.

The NDA government has been repeatedly accused by the Opposition of using Central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and the I-T department to target political rivals. There is apprehension that ‘politically motivated’ raids, searches and I-T surveys will be intensified in the coming days and weeks so as to browbeat Opposition leaders into joining the BJP. The onus is on the government, which suffered a blow on Thursday when the Supreme Court declared the electoral bond scheme unconstitutional, to dispel the growing impression that it is unleashing investigative agencies on its opponents to politically and financially destabilise them. 

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