PM Modi Draws Krishna-Sudama Analogy After Supreme Court's Electoral Bonds Judgement

pm modi draws krishna-sudama analogy after supreme court’s electoral bonds judgement

The times have changed such that in today’s day and age if Sudama would have given some rice to Krishna, videos would come out that Sudama had given something to Krishna, a PIL would be filed and a judgement would come out saying Lord Krishna was indulging in corruption, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal on Sunday, in a comment that is being seen as directed the recent electoral bonds judgement.

The Prime Minister was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Shri Kalki Dham, a religious institution founded by spiritual leader and former Congress member Acharya Pramod Krishnam. Acharya Pramod Krishnam was recently ousted by the Congress for alleged ‘anti-party activities’. Soon after, he said he has decided to stand with Prime Minister Modi.

The Prime Minister’s comment came in reference to a comment made by Acharya Pramod Krishnam from the pulpit while he was speaking before the PM. The full video of his speech has been provided below. The Prime Minister’s comment related below comes at the 8th minute and 45th second and goes on till the ninth minute and 40th second.

“Acharya Pramod Krishnam said everyone has something to give, but he doesn’t have anything and can only express his sentiments. Pramod ji it’s a good thing you did not give anything. Otherwise times have changed such, that if in today’s day and age, if Sudama would have given rice to Krishna in a potli, videos would come out, PIL would get filed in the Supreme Court, and judgement would come out saying Lord Krishna was the beneficiary of corruption and that Lord Krishna engaged in corruption,” Prime Minister Modi said.

Prime Minister Modi’s comment was a reference to the Puranic legend about the friendship between Lord Krishna and Sudama. According to one re-telling of the legend, when Sudama, Lord Krishna’s friend, who was born into a poor family, was asked by his wife to seek financial help from Krishna, the royal, he asked her if he could take something to the Lord as a gift. All Sudama’s wife could give him was four handfuls of parched rice, the legend goes.

The Prime Minister’s comment came after the Supreme Court of India struck down his government’s electoral bonds scheme on February 15. The electoral bonds scheme was introduced by the Modi government in 2017-18 with the stated aim of wiping out so-called black money from election funding and promote the use of legitimate funds for political financing.

The electoral bonds scheme allowed individuals as well as corporations to buy electoral bonds from a designated bank which could then be used to make anonymous donations to political parties. According to some reports, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the largest beneficiary of the electoral bonds scheme, having acquired more money through the scheme than all other parties combined.

Last week, the Supreme Court of India held that the electoral bonds scheme to be unconstitutional and ordered the Election Commission of India to publish details of all electoral bonds purchased since April 2019 on its website by March 13. The court ordered that the details should include the name of the purchaser, the denomination of the bonds, and the details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties.