The Congress equated the I-T notice to “tax terrorism” and alleged that it was a blatant attempt to cripple the party financially ahead of the elections.
New Delhi: A day after the Congress received a notice of Rs 1,823 crore from the Income Tax Department for its alleged failure in complying with the tax returns, the party said that it received two more notices from the Income Tax Department “last night”. The I-T notice was for the Assessment Years 2017-18 to 2020-21 and also includes interest and penalty. Addressing a press conference, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Two more notices were sent to us last night”, according to media reports.
The Congress equated the I-T notice to “tax terrorism” and alleged that it was a blatant attempt to cripple the party financially ahead of the elections. The party accused the I-T department of singling it out in tax recovery while bypassing BJP’s tax violations to the tune of Rs 42 crore.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the ruling BJP-led Central government and warned that when the government changes, action will be taken against those who have “destroyed democracy”. “When the government changes, action will definitely be taken against those who ‘violate democracy’! And such action will be taken that no one will dare to do all this again. This is my guarantee,” Gandhi said in a social media post on X.
जब सरकार बदलेगी तो ‘लोकतंत्र का चीरहरण’ करने वालों पर कार्रवाई ज़रूर होगी!
और ऐसी कार्रवाई होगी कि दोबारा फिर किसी की हिम्मत नहीं होगी, ये सब करने की।
ये मेरी गारंटी है।#BJPTaxTerrorism pic.twitter.com/SSkiolorvH
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 29, 2024
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said, “It’s an open violation of law and misuse of power. It seems democracy is no more in this country. The opposition parties have been tormented on every front, now it’s not even understandable what they are doing; Through the Income Tax Department, they want to cripple Congress party…”
The Congress has already lodged a protest against the I-T department for freezing its bank accounts and imposing a penalty of Rs 200 crores in February. The party has spoken about its cash crunch and claimed in a recent press conference that it does not have money to fund its election campaign.
The party had also appealed against Rs 200 crore tax notice to Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) but failed to get any reprieve as it was told to pay taxes and outstanding dues.
On March 28, the Delhi High Court rejected petitions by the Congress that challenged the initiation of tax reassessment proceedings against it for four years by tax authorities. The pleas were dismissed in terms of its earlier decision refusing to interfere with the opening of reassessment for another period, a bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said.
