JOIN USPrime Minister Narendra Modi chose the ramparts of Red Fort to obliquely scoff at corruption charges that the Congress leveled against a Union minister and two BJP chief ministers during the just-concluded Monsoon session.
He equated the Congress, whose UPA government faced some of the worst corruption cases, to an “ill man advising healthy persons about how to remain fit”. “The same thing happens in corruption matters,” he said. Saying that his government was “determined to end the termite of corruption”, Modi said “it has been 15 months now since we formed government, no charges of corruption have been levelled, not even of one rupee”.
Modi revealed that Rs 6,500-crore worth undeclared assets have been disclosed under the new stringent black money law and vowed to continue with it despite “side-effects” and concerns raised by some persons – another electoral promise he insisted he was committed to fulfilling. The Congress has been attacking Modi for failing to accomplish the 2014 poll assurance of every bank account getting Rs 15 lakh once the black money is brought back into the country. Unlike the last Independence Day speech where he had mentioned about productive parliamentary session, the prime minister skipped reference to the monsoon session given the acrimony between ruling and opposition benches dragging members’ conduct to new lows.
From “me” and “hum”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi moved on to “Team India”, crediting the 1.25 crore people for whatever his government was doing which critics believe was largely a balancing act against criticism that others, too, should get credit.