Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday that corruption, was eating away at India “like a termite” as he used an independence day speech to pledge his commitment to eradicating graft and poverty.
In an address from Delhi’s Red Fort, Modi sought to silence growing doubts about his leadership after key reforms stalled in a rancorous parliament session dogged by allegations of corruption involving some of his top lieutenants.
Modi, who has a reputation as a hardline Hindu nationalist, also warned against the “poison” of communalism in a wide-ranging speech that lasted for more than an hour.
Photo: EPA
However, it was his comments on the dangers posed by corruption that drew most attention, including his admission that the problem went right to the top.
“I want to reaffirm that this nation will get rid of corruption. We can rid the country of corruption, we have to start from the top,” Modi said.
“Corruption is like a termite, it spreads slowly, reaches everywhere but it can be beaten with timely injections,” he said.
Modi’s speech comes after some of the most senior figures in his Bharatiya Janata Party became embroiled in corruption scandals, including Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and the chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh states.
The scandals have been particularly embarrassing as Modi’s election win last year was built in part on a pledge to clean up government after a series of scams under the previous Congress administration.
Modi said there had been no cases of money being siphoned off on his watch and that a new law on declaring income had led to the disclosure of around one billion dollars in hitherto hidden assets which is to now be liable to tax.
Other economic reforms however have snagged in parliament, including a national sales tax that the government sees as crucial to firing up growth.
While the economy is growing at around 7.5 percent, it still needs to pick up pace to elevate the hundreds of millions of people still mired in poverty in the world’s second most populous nation.
The right-wing premier, who has been accused of being too close to big business, portrayed himself as a champion of the poor by promising to help farmers and lower-caste dalits, formerly known as untouchables.
Modi set a 1,000-day deadline for every village in India to get electricity, urging state governments which are responsible for power to ensure every community is finally linked to the national grid.
“Even after so many decades of independence there are 18,500 villages in India which do not have electricity,” he said.
“I appeal to the states and all other stakeholders to connect these villages with electricity system within 1,000 days,” he said.
Modi said he had striven to enable 170 million people to open bank accounts for the first time under a government-run scheme.
“The poor are at bottom of the pyramid of development and we have to strengthen the base of the pyramid. If they are empowered, no one can stop us,” Modi said.
Modi’s first Aug. 15 address from the fort’s ramparts drew praise from across the political spectrum as he tackled issues such as sexual violence and a lack of toilets.
However, one year on, problems are mounting up for the usually bullish prime minister and his opponents were in no mood to be generous.
Indian Minister of Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari said Modi failed to address the corruption allegations raised in parliament, accusing him of lacking the “moral authority” to tell his lieutenants to quit.
“He didn’t tell the country in his lengthy speech why the entire session of parliament was wasted,” Tewari said.
An editorial in yesterday’s Times of India said Modi’s government was becoming mired in the same problems that blighted its predecessor, namely an “inability to push economic reforms that would scale up growth, combined with corruption scandals.”
According to a new poll conducted for the private ABP television network, 59 percent of respondents feel Modi has not kept his promise of a corruption-free government.
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