Hindutva Parties Received Electoral Bonds From Beef Companies

Two Mumbai-based beef exporting companies - whose names appeared on the list of the purchasers of electoral bonds - were found to have donated the money to the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena in 2019, while both these parties were still in a coalition government in the state, new data released by the State Bank of India (SBI) revealed on Thursday.

After an ultimatum from the Supreme Court of India, the SBI submitted the alphanumeric numbers of the bonds, purchased by the companies as well as liquidated by the parties, to the Election Commission of India (EC). The data has made it possible to find out which company bought the electoral bonds for which party.

The initial data of the purchasers and the benefactors of the electoral bonds, released last week, showed that two beef-exporting companies, Allanasons Private Limited and Frigorifico Allana Private Limited, had purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore in 2019. Both of these companies are promoted by the Allana Group of Companies.

The new data has shown that the companies bought the bonds issued by Shiv Sena and the BJP in 2019. In July 2019, Allanasons Private Limited as well as Frigorifico Allana Private Limited both purchased two bonds each worth Rs 1 crore, which were later encashed by the Shiv Sena. One bond worth Rs 1 crore was purchased by Allanasons Private Limited in October 2019 was encashed by the BJP.

The BJP-Shiv Sena government banned the sale and possession of beef in the state in 2015, on par with several other BJP-ruled states in the country that began banning cow slaughter and beef sale and possession across the country since 2014, when the Modi Government came to power at the Centre, the first time. Since 2015, there have been over 40 recorded instances of Muslim men being lynched to death by Hindu mobs over suspicions of cow slaughter or possession of beef. Meanwhile, the Hindutva parties that upheld the ban on cow slaughter have been seeing benefitting from the beef-exporter companies. Shiv Sena run by Uddhav Thackeray has, however, distanced itself from the BJP since November 2019, when their alliance with the latter broke. A faction of Shiv Sena, that now has possession of the party’s name, symbol and finances, broke off from the original party and formed a new government with the BJP in 2022.

As per a news report by The Quint last week, the Mumbai wing of the Income Tax department carried out raids early that month at the Mumbai-based Allana group. In April 2019, the group was accused of evading Rs 2,000 crore worth of tax, as mentioned in the same report. And a few months later, both these companies were found to have donated a total of Rs 5 crore to Shiv Sena and BJP, the parties that were in power in the state together at the time.

Apart from these, two other companies that are part of the Allana Group of Companies have also purchased bonds. Allana Cold Storage has purchased bonds worth Rs 1 crore, which were encashed by Shiv Sena in July 2019. Frigerio Conserva Allana Private Limited donated Rs 1 crore, through bonds, to the BJP in February 2020. However, both these companies have different directors, as per The Quint. However, they are indeed both part of the Allana Group of Companies.

On March 12, 2024, the SBI submitted the data of who purchased and who liquidated the electoral bonds that were introduced in the country for donations to political parties through the Finance Act, 2017. With directions from the Supreme Court, the data from 2019 to January 2024 was then published by the Election Commission on its website on the night of March 14. This was followed by the ECI releasing the affidavits by the political parties and finally, on Thursday, the alphanumeric bond numbers, which can link the donors to the political parties.