The Congress on Sunday launched a stunning attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling him ‘delusional’ as the party fired seven questions on the PM CARES Fund receiving ‘Chinese money’ in donations.
Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that ‘delusional Modi government’ was continuing to sidestep the brazen Chinese transgressions and occupation of the Indian territory by the Chinese forces in the Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso Lake area, Hot Springs and Depsang Plains upto Y-Junction.
Raising the issue of Chinese funding to the PM CARES Fund in the wake of the killings of 20 Indian soldiers by the Chinese army, Singhvi asked, “What is most worrying and alarming for national security is the fact of donations received by Prime Minister Modi from the Chinese Companies in his (seemingly personal) PM CARES Fund. No one knows the constitution or the operational framework of the PM CARES Fund. No one knows how it is controlled or money given to it utilized. The Fund is not even subjected to audit by any public authority including CAG. PMO has gone to the extent of saying this Fund is not a public authority. PM CARES Fund is not even subjected to RTI. All in all, the Fund appears to be solely run by the Prime Minister in an opaque and secret fashion with zero transparency and zero accountability.”
Singhvi said that the PM CARES Fund had received Rs 9,678 crores by 20 May 2020. He said, “Will Prime Minister answer :–
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- Why has PM Modi received Chinese money into the Fund, despite the overt Chinese hostilities in the year 2013?
- Has PM received Rs 7 Crore from the controversial company HUAWEI? Does HUAWEI have a direct connection with People’s Liberation Army, China?
- Has the Chinese company owning TikTok facilitated a donation of Rs 30 crores to the controversial PM CARES Fund?
- Has Paytm, which has a 38% Chinese ownership given 100 crores in the controversial Fund?
- Has XIAOMI, the Chinese company, committed Rs 15 Crore to the controversial Fund?
- Has the Chinese company OPPO, donated Rs 1 crore to this controversial Fund?
- Has Prime Minister Modi diverted the donations received in PMNRF to the controversial PM CARES Fund and how many hundred crores is the amount diverted?”
Former Home Minister P Chidambaram too took to Twitter to ask, “PM-CARES fund was set up on 28-03-2020. Chinese-owned companies donated money from that date. Chinese troops began incursions into Ladakh in March-April 2020. Does it require great intelligence to discern China’s motives?”
PM-CARES fund was set up on 28-03-2020. Chinese-owned companies donated money from that date. Chinese troops began incursions into Ladakh in March-April 2020. Does it require great intelligence to discern China’s motives?
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) June 28, 2020
The attack by the Congress party came on a day Home Minister Amit Shah stopped short of confirming that India was at war with China as he said that his government was capable of fighting with war with Beijing.