E-Paper
India wants to get rid of graft, appeasement, says Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the country wants to get rid of corruption, dynastic politics and appeasement, as he attacked the Opposition parties
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the mood prevailing in the country is to get rid of corruption, dynastic politics and appeasement, as he attacked the Opposition alliance.
Paying tributes to the leaders who took part in the Quit India Movement, on its 81st anniversary, the prime minister said, “Under the leadership of Gandhi Ji, this movement played a major role in freeing India from colonial rule. Today, India is saying in one voice: Corruption, Quit India. Dynasty, Quit India. Appeasement, Quit India.”
August 9th is commemorated as the Quit India Movement Day every year to mark the Mahatma Gandhi-led movement against the colonial rule in 1942.
In the wake of 26 opposition parties coming together as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the prime minister urged his party colleagues to underscore how most of the parties in the alliance are either dynastic parties or accused of being complicit in cases of corruption during their rule. Modi has dubbed the coalition as a “Ghamandia” (arrogant) alliance that has come together to protect their individual interests.
Taking a cue from Modi’s speech, BJP leaders commemorated the anniversary of Quit India Movement with a pledge to eradicate corruption and politics of appeasement and dynasty.
Senior BJP leader and former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that corruption and appeasement go hand in hand with dynastic politics, as he made a reference to the “scams” that took place during the decade-long Congress-led UPA regime.
“For the sake of India, its security and integrity, it is very important that these three ills — blatant family rule, corruption, and shameful appeasement — quit India,” Prasad said. “If the country’s democratic fabric is to be safeguarded, probity in politics has to be brought back and saved; these three curses have to quit India.”
Reacting to the BJP’s allegations, Congress lawmaker Jairam Ramesh said it was ironic that those who were never part of the freedom movement or supported the Quit India Movement are talking of Quit India today.
“The RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh; the BJP’s ideological fountainhead] actively opposed Gandhiji’s Quit India Movement of August 1942. While Gandhiji was launching the movement, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Jana Sangh, was in an alliance government with the Muslim League in Bengal,” Ramesh said.
Attacking the government on a host of issues, the senior Congress leader added, “Those who are quiet on Manipur burning must quit...Those who are quiet on the intolerable price rise of essential commodities, petrol, diesel and LPG must quit...Those who are quiet on their quid pro quo relationship with Adani must quit.”
