India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, has accused the government of financially “crippling” it before national elections by freezing its bank accounts over an alleged tax violation.
Congress claimed in February that the federal income tax department had frozen its bank accounts and demanded 2.1 billion rupees ($25 million).
Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Sonia Gandhi, held a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
They accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of “criminal” intent and “crippling” the largest opposition party ahead of the key vote next month.
“All our bank accounts have been frozen. We can do no campaign, [nor] support our workers, cannot support our candidates,” said Mr Gandhi, who is Mr Modi's main challenger for Prime Minister.
“Leaders cannot fly or take railways, and this has been done literally two months before the election campaign.”
“This has been orchestrated to cripple us in the elections … This is a criminal action on the Congress party and the criminal action done by the Prime Minister and Home Minister [Amit Shah],” he said, adding “our ability to fight elections has been damaged”.
Mr Gandhi said there was “no democracy in India today”.
“The idea that India is a democracy is a lie,” he said.
India will undertake seven-phase elections starting on April 19 to elect a new government, with results expected on June 4.
Political parties in India spend billions of rupees on campaigning, including media and online promotions and massive public rallies.
Large corporations and individual supporters donate billions of rupees every year to political parties to contest elections.
Parties raised nearly 165 billion rupees between 2018 and 2024 through the now-scrapped electoral bonds, according to data from the Election Commission of India.
Congress received nearly 20 billion rupees from the total donations, while Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took the majority of the funds, pocketing 82 billion rupees.
The opposition party said the tax dispute relates to 2018-19, when India held general elections in which the BJP won with a thumping majority.
The bank accounts were first frozen in February but temporarily unfrozen days later, following an appeal by the party to a tax tribunal that asked it to keep 1.1 billion rupees in the account as a surety until the “tax evasion” matter is resolved.
Congress had appealed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body, to take legal action in response to the freeze but the tribunal dismissed its application.
The party approached the Delhi High Court this month challenging the tribunal’s order, but the court refused to interfere and declined to stay a notice issued by the income tax department.
Rahul Gandhi’s mother, Sonia Gandhi, who led the party for two decades and helped it win elections in 2004 and 2009, alleged the action was a “determined assault” on Congress, which is known as the grand old party and has produced three prime ministers since independence from Britain in 1947.
“This issue affects not just the Indian National Congress but impacts our democracy most fundamentally. Systematic effort is under way to cripple Indian National Congress financially,” Ms Gandhi said.
“The electoral bonds have benefited the BJP massively. On the other hand, the principal opposition party is under a determined assault. This we all believe is unprecedented and undemocratic,” she said speaking about the anonymous bonds scheme.
India’s Supreme Court had last month scrapped the electoral bonds system that allowed donors, including corporations, to buy electoral bonds from the State Bank of India to fund political parties without their names being made public.
The Election Commission of India is expected to release the unique identification numbers of the bonds later this week which will help connect donors with the political parties after the state bank skipped the information while making public the names of the donors and political parties.
List of UAE medal winners
Gold
Faisal Al Ketbi (Open weight and 94kg)
Talib Al Kirbi (69kg)
Omar Al Fadhli (56kg)
Silver
Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Khalfan Belhol (85kg)
Zayed Al Mansoori (62kg)
Mouza Al Shamsi (49kg women)
Bronze
Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi (Open and 94kg)
Saood Al Hammadi (77kg)
Said Al Mazroui (62kg)
Obaid Al Nuaimi (56kg)
Bashayer Al Matrooshi (62kg women)
Reem Abdulkareem (45kg women)
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'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
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Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
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If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
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Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Rating: 4/5
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Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
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- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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“Safeguarding, not just in sport, but in all walks of life, is making sure that policies are put in place that make sure your child is safe; when they attend a football club, a tennis club, that there are welfare officers at clubs who are qualified to a standard to make sure your child is safe in that environment,” Derek Bell explains.
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
