Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded the role of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in tackling black money and corruption in the country over the past decade.
He also refuted the charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) using the central agencies to clamp the voices of opposition leaders and asserted that 97 per cent of cases of ED are against people who are not involved in politics.
An honest person has nothing to fear but those involved in corruption have “Paap ka dar” (fear of sin), the Prime Minister said during an interview with news agency ANI.
“How many opposition leaders are in jail? No one tells me. And is this the same opposition leader… who used to run their government? There is fear of sin (paap ka dar hai). What fear does an honest person have? They had put my Home Minister in Jail when I was Chief Minister. The country should understand that political leaders are involved in only 3 per cent of the ED cases and 97 per cent of cases are registered against the ones who do not belong to the politics,” PM Modi said during the interview.
He emphasised that most cases by the ED are registered against either drug mafias involved in corruption, or against officers who have created benami assets.
Lauding the central agency’s work during his tenure, Modi said, “Before 2014, ED had attached assets worth Rs 5000 crore only. Did anyone stop ED from taking action and who were getting benefitted from it? In my tenure, assets worth Rs 1 lakh crore have been attached. Is this not the money of the people of the country?” PM asked.
“In the last ten years, we have recovered Rs 2,200 crore in cash, while before 2014, ED could only recover Rs 34 lakh cash which can be carried in a school bag… It means that the ED is doing a good job,” he added.
Prime Minister asserted that corruption has destroyed the country and it has to be tackled with full might.
“They (ED) have held people and seized cash as well and I am convinced that the corruption has destroyed the country. We should fight against corruption with our full strength. And this is my conviction,” he said.
On asked about the lack of a ‘level playing field’ and the alleged influence over Central agencies, PM Modi said, “Out of these, not a single law ( ED, CBI filing cases) was brought by my government, on the contrary, Election Commission reforms were brought by my Government…Those close to the ‘family’ were made Election Commissioners who later got Rajya Sabha seats and ministries…We (BJP) can’t play at that level.”
Following the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate, a delegation of leaders of the INDIA bloc parties approached the Election Commission of India alleging “unrelenting, blatant and illegal deployment of Central Agencies” by the ruling BJP to stifle the opposition parties.
BRS MLC K Kavitha, former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Delhi CM Kejriwal and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia are among prominent Opposition leaders who are currently lodged in jail over corruption charges.
(With ANI Imputs)
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