‘Corrupt joining hands’: Modi lashes out at Oppn.
Some parties rattled by the government’s war on corruption have banded together to create false narratives about India and damage its democratic institutions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday in a scathing attack on Opposition parties.
Speaking at the inauguration of the extension of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) headquarters in the Capital, Modi hit out at the Congress over dynasty politics, the Emergency, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and said that the government will remain steadfast in its fight against corruption.
“Today the faces that have indulged in corruption are coming together on a stage… conspiracies are being hatched to end the credibility of our institutions,” the Prime Minister told a gathering of BJP leaders and workers.
“At a time when the country is on the rise on the global stage, anti-India forces, both within and outside, are coming together… Some parties together have launched a brashtachari bachao andolan (campaign to save the corrupt),” he added. “When the agencies take action against those who are involved in corruption, the agencies are attacked. When the court gives a decision, the court is questioned.”
Modi’s sharp attack comes at a time when the Opposition has coalesced into a group demanding a probe into allegations of financial irregularities against the Adani Group and alleged proximity between the ruling dispensation and the conglomerate. Several Opposition parties have disrupted the ongoing budget session of Parliament with a demand for a joint parliamentary probe, and have held several protests in Delhi.
Fourteen Opposition parties have also approached the Supreme Court over the alleged misuse of central federal agencies. The Opposition also set aside differences to denounce Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha last week, following his conviction in a case of criminal defamation by a Surat court.
The BJP has returned Opposition fire by demanding in Parliament that Gandhi apologise for the comments he made in London about India’s democracy and Parliament. It has also alleged that Gandhi’s 2019 comments that triggered the defamation case insulted backward groups.
In his speech, the PM sought to link the Opposition protests to corruption. “The country is watching and understands, how corruption like termite has hollowed out our country. They see how the earlier governments did things only on paper, in the last nine years, the BJP has led a campaign against corruption, that has shaken the roots of corruption and the corrupt,” he said.
Underlining the government’s zero-tolerance for corruption, he said the action taken by the government was proof than when the BJP comes to power, corruption subsides.
He said under the Prevention Of Money Laundering Act, his government attached property worth ₹1.10 lakh crore, much higher than ₹5,000 crore between 2004 and 2014, when the Congress was in power.
“Some people during the Congress rule duped the banks of ₹22,000 crore and fled abroad, we have attached property worth ₹20,000 crore… CBI has registered 5,000 cases and shown the rules to those who were corrupt… For the first time, action on such a big scale has been taken against corruption. Wherever I go, people tell me not to stop,” the PM said.
He said some people were angry due to the government’s war against corruption but the country will neither bend nor stop the action based on “false allegations”.
“Earlier, senior leaders of the Congress used to say that the Jan Sangh (predecessor of the BJP) will be rooted out, today they say Modi teri kabar khude gi (Modi your grave will be dug)…they made attempts and conspiracies to destroy the BJP and the Jana Sangh… they did so much to send me to jail, but they failed. And we have flourished because of the love of the people and we will continue to do so,” he said.
BJP president JP Nadda said that Modi always found the time to go into the details and offer solutions to issues related to the party. He credited the PM for suggesting that the party should not be run from a government-owned building but its own premises, and said on Tuesday, the BJP had offices in 499 districts, 115 more were under construction, and land was being procured for another 123. “He is inspiring the party to become self-reliant. But his aim is not limited to construction of buildings alone, he has contributed to building the party’s work ethic,” Nadda said.
Crediting the workers for the party’s pan-India presence the PM said the BJP was not a party that came from newspapers, TV screens, Twitter handles or YouTube channels, but thrived from the sacrifices of workers. “Our fight is not easy, at every step we have to fight corruption, dynastic politics, communalism, casteism, anti-India forces and their eco system,” he said.
Referring to the party’s expanding footprint, the PM said the party grew from a small office and two Lok Sabha members to become the world’s largest political party with 303 Lok Sabha members.
“…When we started the journey, at that time we were a small party with big dreams… We are a party that during the Emergency sacrificed our party for the welfare of the country; then what happened in 1984, the country cannot forget that black chapter. The Congress got a historic mandate, in an emotionally charged atmosphere, in that storm, we were nearly over, but we did not lose hope and were not disillusioned; we did no go into a blame game and we went back to the people worked on the ground, strengthened the party and that is how we have reached here,” he said.
The PM said that in several states, the BJP gets 50% plus votes and offered a level-playing field for young people. “It is not just the biggest party in the world, but the most futuristic party. We have one aim, the development of a modern India and therefore, we need to fix goals for our future,” he said and told party workers to imbibe three things — research, modernity and absorbing the best practices from all over the world.
He said the government’s mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas was being followed by many leaders and the North-East is the best example of the response to the government’s policy. “The population (in the North-East) has a lot of diversity, there are STs, there are many other communities and they have faith in the BJP; we have four CMs and two alliance governments. The credit for this success goes to the BJP workers. Even in Southern India, the party is expanding.”
The PM said time had come for universities, academics and experts to study the governance models of the Congress, communists, family-owned parties, alliance governments and the BJP, to understand what was given, what the results were, and what was good for people.
Source- Hindustan Times.
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