New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has vowed that his party will take decisive action against those who undermine democracy once the government changes, following the issuance of a Rs. 1,800 crore income tax notice, which the party has denounced as “tax terrorism.”
The fresh tax notice spans the assessment years 2017-18 to 2020-21 and includes penalties and interest.
In a post on the microblogging platform X, Gandhi stated, “When the government changes, action will definitely be taken against those who are destroying democracy. And the action will be taken in such a manner that no one will have the courage to do all this again. This is my guarantee.”
The Congress, the country’s principal opposition party, faced a setback ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as the Income Tax department served it a notice exceeding Rs. 1,800 crore for alleged tax return discrepancies in previous years.
The notice came shortly after the Delhi High Court dismissed Congress’s petitions challenging the initiation of tax reassessment proceedings for a four-year period.
Gandhi accused central departments, such as the income tax, of acting at the behest of the BJP.
The Congress is gearing up for a protracted legal battle to annul the tax demands.
Congress leader Ajay Maken argued that the BJP has received donations from thousands of people in recent years, and their income tax should also be scrutinized.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge highlighted the disparity, stating, “IT (Income Tax department) has now given a notice of a total of Rs. 1,823 Cr to the Congress party. They have already withdrawn Rs. 135 Cr from Congress party’s accounts, which is a fund collected by us through crowdsourcing.”
Kharge further pointed out, “Despite the fact that public information of the Election Commission clearly shows that 1297 people have deposited ₹42 Cr to BJP in 2017-18 without mentioning their name and addresses.”
Earlier, the Congress had alleged that the Narendra Modi government had frozen the party’s bank accounts just weeks before the general elections, causing difficulties in funding their poll campaigns.
