Deccan Chronicle

PM: BJP ended 85% of the loot

Slams Cong for no effort to plug corruption

- DC CORRESPOND­ENT with agency inputs

Taking on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the party that ruled for so long made no effort to plug corruption despite a former prime minister identifyin­g the malady, while the BJP ended “85 per cent of the loot” in four-and-a-half years.

Without naming Rajiv Gandhi, he alluded to the former prime minister’s remark that only 15 paise of Re 1 reaches the masses and said Congress government­s over the years did nothing to stop the leakage.

The Prime Minister said his government gave about `5,80,000 crore to the people directly through various schemes.

Addressing NRIs and Indian-origin people at the inaugurati­on of the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas convention in his

parliament­ary constituen­cy Varanasi, Mr Modi described NRIs as India’s brand ambassador­s and said they were the symbols of the country’s capabiliti­es.

The Prime Minister said India’s contributi­on was being recognised at the internatio­nal level, especially its role with regard to environmen­t.

Taking on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the party that ruled for so long made no effort to plug corruption despite a former prime minister identifyin­g the malady, while the BJP ended “85 per cent of the loot” in four-and-a-half years.

The government has changed the mindset that India cannot change, he said in the presence of chief guest Mauritian Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Uttarakhan­d CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, UP Governor Ram Naik, and Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh, among others.

Mr Modi said India’s contributi­on was being recognized at the internatio­nal level, especially its role with regard to environmen­t.

Taking a swipe at the Congress, Modi said it got to know about the disease, acknowledg­ed the disease, but neither thought about it, nor did anything in the direction of curing the ailment.

The party that ruled the country for so many years had given the system to the country, a truth that was accepted by the then prime minister. But what is regrettabl­e is that later in its rule of 10-15 years, there was no effort made to end this loot and leakage, Mr Modi said.

The country’s middle class kept giving tax honestly and this loot of 85 per cent also continued, he said. I also want to tell you today’s truth as well. We used technology to end this loot of 85 per cent completely, he said.

In the last four-and-ahalf years about `5,80,000 crore, about USD 80 billion, our government, through various schemes, has directly given to the people, transferri­ng it in their bank accounts.

The money has been given out for various purposes such as for a home to someone, for education, for scholarshi­p, for gas cylinder, and to other such ends this amount has been given.

Now just consider that if the country was being run through the old system, then even today from this `5,80,000 crore, about `4,50,000 crore would have disappeare­d or leaked.

If we would not have brought a change in the system then this amount would have been looted like the former prime minister had accepted that it was looted, Modi said.

 ?? —PTI ?? Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth in Varanasi.
—PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth in Varanasi.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India