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Will TNM Question The DMK For Receiving “Donation” From Lottery Martin And Try To Establish ‘Quid Pro Quo’?

The Commune

When the details of the Electoral Bond purchases were made public by the Election Commission a few days ago, the entire internet went ballistic claiming the BJP being the biggest “beneficiary” was scamming and hoodwinking the public.

As more details are unveiled, it becomes clearer as to who donated what and to whom. Among those who went on a hyperbole to try and link the biggest donor Lottery Martin/Santiago Martin with the BJP was the leftist news portal The News Minute.

TNM’s Shabbir Ahmed was trying to prove that it was indeed the BJP that received money from Lottery Martin’s company Future Gaming. Any news that came out that seemed to “suppress” the electoral bonds issue, he would call “Diversion Alert”.

TNM even wrote an elaborate piece on “Top buyers of electoral bonds” – this was a collaborative effort by 3 entities – Newslaundry, TNM, and Scroll!

Shabbir published videos on the electoral bonds – all the while trying to establish it as a scam. They tried to create the image that Lottery Martin was donating to the BJP. He kept calling it a scam.

They even brought in a “Reliance/Ambani” connection to prove electoral bonds are a scam.

He tried to whitewash it further saying BJP was saying things to confuse people.

They tried to connect Martin’s son with the BJP and Martin’s wife to NDA ally IJK.

Till 17 March 2024, the narrative was only about BJP and there was literally no mention of the DMK or any other party. It was made to look as if the “scam” was committed by the BJP when in fact as Union Home Minister Amit Shah pointed out that if the BJP had received approximately ₹6000 crores as claimed, the remaining ₹14000 crores went to the other parties! Amit Shah criticized opposition parties for their scrutiny of the BJP’s electoral bond receipts, highlighting what he deemed disproportionate amounts received by various parties relative to their seats in the Lok Sabha. He cited examples, noting that the Trinamool Congress encashed bonds amounting to ₹1,600 crore, Congress received ₹1,400 crore, Bharat Rashtra Samithi received ₹1,200 crore, BJD received ₹775 crore, and DMK received ₹649 crore. He also added, “I assure you that when the accounts are opened, these people will not be able to face you.” And that is seems to be what is happening.

When the details of the donations to each party came out, Shabbir took a 360-degree shift in his language usage. The word “scam” became “donation” because Martin had donated over 500 crores to the DMK!

The News Minute probably forgot that they had published an article in 2019 that spoke about a defamation suit filed by Stalin on Vikatan connecting Lottery Martin and his donations to the DMK.

The article details the case and if we connect the dots, it seems as if Stalin has committed perjury by denying his connection to Martin or having received any donation from his company.

It is noteworthy that in May 2012, Santiago Martin’s wife and close family members filed a complaint at the city police commissionerate accusing two lottery agents, one of whom was associated with former Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s Bangalore-based daughter, Selvi, of attempting to implicate Martin in a fabricated lottery case. Additionally, they claimed to have been subjected to ongoing threats from these individuals following Martin’s release on bail the same month.

Outlets like The News Minute are too quick to establish “quid pro quo” when it comes to connecting the BJP to any IT or ED raids that the “donor”/purchase of electoral bonds faced. However, they have not made a single attempt to question the DMK on the money received through electoral bonds. There are several agencies that are under the control of the state government. We have the DVAC, the State Police for example under the control of the state government. So are the raids and checks conducted by these agencies not considered “extortion” and the money received “extortion money” for The News Minute when it comes to state governments, especially the DMK?

 

With so much proof in hand, TNM has not yet spoken about the 2019 case and questioned the DMK so far. It is highly likely that they won’t and will continue to peddle the narrative of the electoral bonds being a “scam”.

Does TNM which claims to be an ostensibly impartial media outlet actually prefer clandestine exchanges of money, conducted in the shadows of secrecy, despite their professed commitment to “truth and transparency”? They claim to question those in power – will they question the DMK which is in power in Tamil Nadu over the allegations of perjury?

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