Electoral bonds: Congress protests at Parliament premises

Congress MPs held a protest against the issue of electoral bonds in the Parliament premises on Friday, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi breaks his silence over it.

Present at the protest site near the Gandhi statue were Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor, Karti Chidambaram and Manish Tewari among others.

The issue of electoral bonds has snowballed into a political flashpoint following reports that the Reserve Bank of India and the Election Commission had reservations against them, but were overruled by the Modi government.

Speak up Prime Minister," shouted Congress MPs gathered near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament with placards in hands reading "Rs 6,000 crore robbery".

They raised slogans like 'Chunavi bond kaka hai, din dahade daaka hai' (Electoral bonds are bogus and it is a daylight robbery), 'chunavi bond band karo' (End electoral bonds).

The BJP has slammed the Congress for the "fiasco" in the House. On Thursday, Railways and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal attacked the Congress, saying that it is only natural that they will oppose a system which is cleaning the electoral process from the curse of black money.