LUDHIANA: President of the Bhartiya Janata Panty Lal Krishan Advani, last week, termed the Narasimha Rao government as the most corrupt since Independence and accused it of promoting a culture of non-accountability.
Talking to media persons here before addressing a public meeting in connection with the lunching of the Bharat parikarma campaign of his party in Punjab, Advani Observed that the government’s track record of past three years showed one mega scam per year. It was the public sector enterprises disinvestment scam of R.s 4,300 crore during 1991-92, the great banking scam during 1992-93 and the sugar scam during 1993-94 while the latter two scams remain to be quantified as yet. Advent remarked that the R.s 67 crore Bofors gun scandals that ted to the ouster of the Rajiv Gandhi government was nothing in comparison.
He deplored that while scams in foreign countries bring down prime ministers as happened recently in Japan, in India the culprits go scot-free. Though the Joint Parliamentary Committee dominated by the ruling party had indicated three union ministers and the Reserve Bank governor in the Sugar scam and found Gold Star Company of the Prime Minister’s Son as the main beneficiary, no political leader was punished for his collusion.
Justifying the opposition boycott Of Parliament on the round that it had placed the issue of corruption on the national agenda, he felt that the deadlock would continue. “Even in coming elections in nine States and one union territory, corruption in high places shall be a principal issue,” he asserted.
Advani ruled out the BJP’s joining the proposed dhama before Parliament by the left parties saying corruption was a major plank during the ongoing Bharat parikarma campaign.
He hoped that the BJP’s mass mobilization drive against corruption would serve the purpose as previous anti-corruption campaigns had ousted Congress government twice in 1977 and 1989.In the same breath, he flayed the Beant Singh government in Punjab for rampant corruption and making life of common man miserable, He said police excesses too should be curbed with a heavy hand.
Decrying the Uttar Pradesh government’s change of chief sectary on caste basis, he dubbed it as the apartheid at its worst. Blaming Narasimha Rao for sustaining a government that made this outrageous assault on democracy and Social harmony, he appealed to the people to react strongly against this outrage.
Expressing concern at the decorating situation in Kashmir, he pleaded for a strong-armed policy and single-mindedness of purpose by the government as displayed in Punjab.
Welcoming the move to give identity cards to voters, he said there was plenty of time before these could be issued in states going to the polls next but the government must shed its lack of
will power.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 19, 1994
