Corrupt tarnish image… don’t stop, spare no one: PM Modi to CBI

“These people will keep distracting you, but you have to focus on your work. No corrupt person should be spared,” he said. “This is the wish of the country, this is the wish of the people of the countrymen. I am assuring you that the country, law and Constitution are with you.”

“Unfortunately, India got a legacy of corruption at the time of Independence and… instead of removing it, some people kept nourishing this malady,” the Prime Minister said.

“Corruption is not an ordinary crime, it snatches the rights of the poor, it begets many other crimes, corruption is the biggest obstacle in the path of justice and democracy,” he said. “Corruption in the government system hampers democracy and the first casualty are the dreams of the youth as in such circumstances a certain type of ecosystem flourishes by killing talent.”

“Corruption promotes nepotism and a dynastic system which erodes the nation’s strength, seriously hampering development,” he said.

Addressing the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of CBI. https://t.co/cFR0DOWi7c

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 3, 2023

Recalling the scams a decade ago, the Prime Minister said, “The situation led to destruction of the system and an atmosphere of policy paralysis brought development to a standstill.”

He said after his government took charge in 2014, several measures were taken to clamp down on corruption.

“After 2014, the priority of the government was to instill faith in the system and, for this, the government started taking action against black money, benami property in mission mode and started inflicting damage on the corrupt as well as the reasons behind the corruption,” Modi said.

“We also brought transparency in the process of issuing government tenders and there is a difference now in 2G and 5G spectrum allocations. GeM (Government eMarketplace) Portal has been established to ensure transparency in making purchases in every department of the central government,” he said.

He also mentioned the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, which has so far enabled confiscation of properties worth Rs 20,000 crore belonging to fugitive offenders.

“We have seen the phone banking era before 2014 as well. It was at that time when in the Capital, on the phones of the politically powerful, people would easily get loans worth lakh-crores. It damaged our banking system altogether. Over the past years, we have put a lot of effort in retrieving our banking sector out of this crisis. In that era of phone banking, some people robbed the banks to the tune of Rs 22,000 crore and ran away to foreign countries,” he said.

The Prime Minister also said the corrupt would go to any extent to loot the aid sent out to beneficiaries of government schemes. “Be it rations, homes, scholarships, pensions or any other government scheme, the original beneficiary would feel conned every single time. Even a Prime Minister once said, for every rupee sent out to the poor, only 15 paise reaches them,” he said.

Praising the premier investigating agency, he said, “Through their work and skills, the CBI has instilled trust among the common citizens of the country. Even today, when an unsolvable case comes, a common accord emerges asking for the case to be handed over to the CBI. The CBI is like a brand for truth and justice.”

The Prime Minister also inaugurated the newly constructed office complexes of the CBI in Shillong, Pune and Nagpur, and released a postage stamp and commemorative coin to mark the agency’s diamond jubilee celebration year.

Among those present were Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and CBI Director Subodh Kumar Jaiswal. The CBI has evolved from an agency combating corruption to a multidisciplinary investigative and prosecuting organisation of international repute, Jaiswal said.