Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday rejected the suggestion that the electoral bond issue caused a setback to his government, saying no system is perfect and any shortcoming could be improved upon.
He also said those who are "dancing" over the matter will repent it.
"Tell me what have we done that I should see it as a setback? I firmly believe that those dancing over it (bond details) and taking pride in it are going to repent," he told Thanthi TV in an interview when asked if the electoral bond details have caused a setback to the ruling BJP.
The Prime Minister said it is due to the electoral bond system put in by his government that the sources of funding and its beneficiaries could be found out.
If a trail is available today, it is because of the presence of bonds, he said, asking if any agency can tell about the sources of funding and their beneficiaries for the polls before 2014, the year he came to power.
"No system is perfect. There can be shortcomings which could be improved upon," he said.
Opposition parties have cited the revelations following the Supreme Court order, which brought all information related to electoral bonds in public domain while terming the anonymous funding practice unconstitutional, to attack the government.
Many firms facing criminal probes have turned out to be big buyers of these bonds.
In the interview, PM Modi asserted that one should not see politics in everything he does, saying that he works for the country and Tamil Nadu is its big strength.
If votes were his main concern, then he would not have done so much for the northeast states, the prime minister said, noting that his government ministers have visited the region for over 150 times and he himself has gone there more times than all other prime ministers together have.
Responding to this question, PM Modi said, "Tell me what have we done that we will face a setback? I am sure who are happy about it [releasing details of electoral bonds] today and feeling proud over it are going to repent."
PM Modi questioned if any agency could share details of expenditures made during the election before 2014.
"I want to ask, there much expenditure in elections before 2014. Which is the agency which can inform - from where the money came, where it was spent and who spent," he said.
Commenting that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had existed even during Congress rule, Narendra Modi said it was not used by them properly. “The PMLA law has existed since before, but they did not use it. Over 150 court cases were filed to exempt [individuals and companies] from the PMLA law. The Congress used the judiciary as a weapon as they know that Modi’s actions against corruption won’t stop,” he added.
Electoral Bonds were paper instruments that anyone could buy from the State Bank of India and give to a political party, which could redeem them for money. It allowed political parties to get away without making any significant disclosure to the Election Commission, as the bonds were designed to be anonymous. The Supreme Court deemed the scheme as unconstitutional on grounds that the public had the right to know who gave money to political parties.
The Supreme Court ordered the SBI to disclose information on both the buyers and the beneficiaries of the bonds. The bank was asked to give the data to the Election Commission by March 6, which would then make it public. The bank asked for an extension, which the court rejected. The first set of data was made public on March 14.
