New Delhi:
The BJP today used a film clip from the 1980s to target Congress over its donation drive for the upcoming elections. The joke tries to link their need for crowdfunding to hundreds of crores seized by one of the parliamentarians.
The clip from the 1984 film 'Inquilaab' featured a conversation between two characters about using black money to buy votes and passing it on as donations by well-wishers.
The scene, starring superstar Amitabh Bachchan and famed actor Kader Khan, featured suitcases filled with cash – which the BJP used in reference to the Congress MP's cash seizures.
The story and characters in this clip are not imaginary. The similarity to Congressman Dhiraj Sahu's call for crowdfunding is intended… pic.twitter.com/5CDyxrWIol
—BJP (@BJP4India) December 17, 2023
“The story and characters in this clip are not imaginary. There is a similarity with Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu's party's call for crowdfunding,” the BJP wrote while sharing the video on X, formerly Twitter.
Mr Sahu is a Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand.
The Income Tax Department recently raided a company and entities owned by it in Odisha and Jharkhand and recovered over Rs 350 crore in cash. This was the largest ever seizure by an investigative agency in India.
Mr Sahu has said his family controls the company and that the money recovered during the searches did not belong to him directly.
The BJP is targeting the Congress over the seizure, claiming that the seized money may have been intended for use in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Congress will launch their nationwide 'Donate for Desh' crowdfunding campaign on Monday to generate resources ahead of the 2024 elections.
Senior party leader KC Venugopal said the initiative was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's 'Tilak Swaraj Fund', launched in 1920-21.
The move drew criticism from the BJP, which claimed it was “yet another attempt to siphon off public funds and enrich the Gandhis”.