BJP collected ‘party funds’ in Indian government’s name: Report

ISLAMABAD: A right to information (RTI) request has revealed that India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) allegedly collected donations for its party by soliciting contributions under the guise of government welfare schemes Swachh Bharat, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, and Kisan Seva, without any official authorization.

According to a report published in Indian media, private platforms, the NaMo app, and the narendramodi.in portal still show options to contribute to government schemes on their donation pages.

The RTI responses to queries filed by an Indian journalist showed that the BJP did not have any permission or authorization from central ministries or the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to collect donations for the Union government’s welfare schemes.

According to the report, the BJP ran a fundraising campaign between December 2021 and February 2022 on private platforms such as narendramodi.in and the NaMo app, in which it solicited donations for Swachh Bharat, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, and Kisan Seva – all government schemes.

‘Party fund’ 

Both the website and the app asked donors to choose between one of these three government schemes and list “party fund” as “cause for donation” while contributing to the BJP.

However, ministries responsible for implementing these schemes have now clearly stated in their RTI responses that none of these platforms, or, for that matter, any other, had been promoted, authorized, or given special permission to raise funds for the schemes.

In 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi endorsed a “micro-donation” campaign to strengthen the party from his X (then Twitter) handle, and urged people to donate to the fund. 

“Your support will enthuse millions of Karyakartas (party workers) who are selflessly devoted to the cause of nation building,” Modi said.

Although the campaign ended in February 2022, both platforms still offer the option to contribute to government schemes on their donation pages.

According to the report, three key ministries, Ministry of Jal Shakti (Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin), Ministry of Women and Child Development (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao), and Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (Kisan Seva), confirmed in response to the RTI queries that the “micro-donation” campaign carried out by the BJP had not been authorized by the Union government or any other government body.

Ministry of Jal Shakti (Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin)

The public information officer, responding to the senior journalist’s RTI query to the union ministry of Jal Shakti’s department of drinking water and sanitation, said, “There is no provision in SBM(G) Phase-II guidelines regarding raising of funds by NGO or individuals for Swachh Bharat projects.”

Ministry of Women and Child Development (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao)

The union ministry of women and child development’s response to the RTI query was similar.

Information officer Rachana Bolimera stated, “There is no provision to give special permission to raise funds through the NaMo App for the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme.”

Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (Kisan Seva)

The director of the digital agriculture division, Vijay Raj Mohan, said that, “No such apps are promoted by the Department; (b) the Government of India does not raise funds for any welfare apps relating to dissemination of information to farmers/farming community.”