Opinion February 21, 1977, Forty Years Ago: Janata On Donations

Indian Express front page today 40 years ago.

Janata On Donations

The Janata Party cautioned managements of companies against giving donations to the ruling party in the garb of advertisement money as such payments amount to a violation of the Companies Act. Directors and other officers are liable to prosecution for making large donations in the form of advertisements for the party souvenirs, Janata Party treasurer, Shanti Bhushan, told the media. Even a shareholder of a company can initiate prosecution proceedings against the company and its directors, he added. Shanti Bhushan alleged he had authentic information about the payment of “very huge amounts” running into millions of rupees by big industrial houses and groups to the ruling Congress under the pretext of advertisements. “The companies were being pressurised into donating money for the coming election,” he said. Section 293-A of the Companies Act prohibits contribution of any amount by a company to any political party or to any individual or body for any political purpose.

Indira On Leadership

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Prime Minister Indira Gandhi strongly refuted the allegation that the Congress was the monopoly of one person and said there were many in it who were more responsible than those in the opposition parties and were capable of giving leadership to the country. Addressing election meetings in Behrampur, West Bengal, the PM called for raising the standard of public life and said no one should try to denigrate the office of the PM.

JP’s Youth Call

Jayaprakash Narayan said that the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections would not be fair. He asked people, particularly the youth, to be prevent any attempts at tampering with the election process. JP was addressing a massive public meeting attended by over a lakh of people at the Kankaria football ground. There were more people at the meeting than the ground could take.