Corruption should not be treated as the new normal, otherwise it will hurt the country a lot, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an exclusive interview to Network18 amid the Lok Sabha elections in which he is batting for a third straight term.
The prime minister spoke to Network18’s group editor Rahul Joshi on the independence of probe agencies like the ED and CBI as well as the opposition’s accusation that the BJP-led central government is misusing these for political gains. He also dismissed a newspaper analysis showing that cases against 23 out 25 opposition leaders were shelved or dropped when they joined the BJP.
Prime Minister Modi said the courts, which are independent and supreme, are examining these cases and their word will be final on such charges. “First, not one case has been dropped. Whatever the courts decide will happen. They are independent. Second, how many such cases pertain to the political leadership? Only 3%. Even big bureaucrats are in jail. After all, why were these agencies formed? If these agencies were formed with a purpose, won’t they fulfil that? Our courts are supreme anyway… The courts must be examining it,” he said.
The opposition INDIA front ramped up its attack on the Modi-led Centre, especially after the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged excise policy scam. The Congress, AAP and other alliance parties had recently held the ‘Loktantra Bachao Rally’ in the famous Ramlila grounds in the national capital to protest the action against the AAP convener, who is lodged in Tihar Jail.
Moving onto the topic of corruption, which has been one of the BJP’s main talking points leading up to the elections, PM Modi said there should be debate around this and it should not be treated as the new normal. He said there were some who were trying to glorify corruption, which should be criticised.
“Let’s not take the matter of corruption lightly. There should be a debate around this. There was a time when even accusations would shake things up. And today, even after conviction and punishment, some are waving and having their photos taken. Are they glorifying corruption? This should be criticised. Corruption shouldn’t be treated as a new normal. Otherwise, it will hurt the country a lot. This is not about BJP vs others,” he said.
The PM said an environment is slowly being created in which corruption is being normalised, but the country has to be resolved on getting rid of it as the poor are suffering. Speaking about the Centre’s technology-driven initiatives like direct benefit transfer (DBT) and GeM portal, he said the system has to be policy-driven on the journey to eradicate corruption.
“I see that slowly an environment is being created where it is being thought: ‘Oh, that’s alright. That happens.’ [But] Poor people are dying. We have to rid the country of corruption. That should be the country’s resolve. I believe in making the system policy-driven. Use technology. Earlier, a prime minister used to say a rupee goes [towards the people] but only 15 paise reach them. Today I say when a rupee goes out, the full 100 paise reach – direct benefit transfer. How? By improving the system! We launched the GeM portal, a big step towards reducing corruption,” he said.
Modi further said apart from these steps to improve the system, there has to be an awareness in society that corruption cannot be tolerated at any level.
“Second, we have to awaken society. Let society also be made conscious that corruption cannot be tolerated at any level. That environment is getting created in the country. But political people are not afraid. Someone would support them [the corrupt] just because they would want to oppose us. This is not correct,” he added.
Check Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 3 Schedule, Key Candidates And Constituencies At News18 Website.
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