On Opposition unity, Narendra Modi says all corrupt are coming together
The prime minister accused the Opposition parties of weakening the institutions of the country by questioning central agencies and courts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday targeted the Opposition parties saying that all the corrupt forces were coming together in one stage.
His comments came amid developments over the last week that saw Opposition unity against the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabha MP.
The Opposition has also held joint protests seeking an investigation into allegations of stock manipulation against the Adani Group, while 14 parties have moved the Supreme Court alleging that the Union government is miusing central agencies.
Addressing Bharatiya Janata Party members at the party headquarters in Delhi on Tuesday, Modi alleged that the Opposition was trying to weaken the institutions of the country.
“In a bid to stop India, constitutional institutions are being attacked,” the prime minister said. “Agencies are being attacked when they take action, questions are being raised in courts...Today, all the corrupt faces can be seen gathering in one stage.”
Modi also blamed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for not doing enough to stop corruption in the country.
“Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, only Rs 5,000 crore had been confiscated during the Congress rule,” he claimed. “But under the BJP, we have confiscated more than Rs 1.10 lakh crore. In the last nine years, the BJP ran a campaign against corruption, which has unsettled the corrupt.”
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which is used by the Enforcement Directorate to prosecute illegal monetary transactions, has been a major point of contention of allegations from the Opposition parties of the misuse of central agencies by the government.
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On March 5, leaders of eight Opposition parties had written to Modi saying that the misuse of investigative agencies suggested “that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy”. This was a week after the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in a case related to alleged irregularities in the city’s now-scrapped liquor policy.
Over the last few days, the Opposition parties have also rallied together against the “vendetta politics” of Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP after a Gujarat court convicted him to two years in jail in a defamation case for his remarks about the prime minister’s surname.
Under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a legislator sentenced to jail for two years or more stands to be disqualified from the date of conviction until six years after serving time.
On Monday, in an encouraging sign for the bid for a united Opposition, leaders of parties such as the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Aam Aadmi joined a protest march against Gandhi’s disqualification. These parties have often refused to acknowledge Congress as the primary opponent of the BJP.