STATE TIMES NEWS
Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the opposition leaders who gathered in Patna recently in an effort to create a united front against the BJP can `guarantee’ scams of at least Rs 20 lakh crore.
During an interaction with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) booth workers here, he said the Opposition can only guarantee scams, and went on to recount the corruption allegations against various parties, from the RJD in Bihar to the DMK in Tamil Nadu.
“The kind of uneasiness visible these days among the parties opposed to the BJP was not there in 2014 and 2019. Those cursing each other fervently are now prostrating before each other. It is their compulsion, and their actions clearly indicate that the people of the country have again decided to give the BJP a landslide victory,” Modi said at his party’s `Mera Booth Sabse Majboot’ programme.
“A new word is getting popular these days and that is “guarantee.” All these parties are a guarantee of corruption. They are a guarantee of scams worth lakhs and crores. A few days ago, there was a photo session (apparent reference to the Patna gathering). If you look at those who were part of it, you will realise that together they are a guarantee of at least a Rs 20 lakh crore scam,” he said.
The scams committed by the Congress alone are worth lakhs of crores of rupees, including the 1.86 lakh crore coal scam, 1.74 lakh crore 2G scam, Rs 70,000 crore Commonwealth Games scam and Rs 10,000 crore MNREGA scam, he said.
From helicopters to submarines, there is not an area where the “Congress hand” of corruption has not reached, Modi said, in a dig at the party’s electoral symbol of hand.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) too has faced allegations of scams worth thousands of crores of rupees, he said, citing the fodder scam, alaktara scam, animal husbandry department scam and flood relief scam.
The list of these scams is so long that “even courts are now tired of them” and awarding punishment in one case after another, Modi said.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is facing accusations of amassing properties worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore illegally, he said.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is accused of scams of Rs 23,000 crore including the Rose Valley scam, Sharda scam, teachers recruitment scam, cow-smuggling scam and a coal scam, Modi said, adding that the people of West Bengal will never forget these instances of corruption.
As to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), there are allegations of scams of nearly Rs 70,000 crore against it, including the Maharashtra Cooperative Bank scam, Maharashtra irrigation scam and illegal mining scam, he said, adding that the list is too long.
These parties’ “scam meter is never down”, the prime minister said.
“You people (BJP workers) are innovative, make a good scam meter (of opposition parties). These parties only have the experience of scams. If they have any guarantee, it is the guarantee of scams. The country will decide whether it will accept the guarantee of scams or not,” he said, almost sounding the poll bugle ahead of Assembly polls in various states and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“If they have a guarantee of scams, then Modi also has one guarantee. My guarantee is that of action against every scamster, action against every thief. Those who have looted the poor and the country, they will be held accountable,” he said.
The Opposition’s common minimum programme is to save themselves from action against corruption, the prime minister added.