Anti-national forces scrambling as India rises: PM

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 28

Exuding confidence in the BJP’s performance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India was shining on the world stage and it was natural for anti-national forces to come together and strike at its foundations.

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Addressing a gathering of union ministers, party MPs and leaders here, PM Modi said the unprecedented assault on corruption had angered some people who had “come together to launch a bhrashtaachaari bachao andolan”.

“Today, if any country has made its mark on the global stage it is India. It is natural for anti-India forces to unite. These forces want to steal from us the potential of ‘Amrit Kaal’ in which we are destined for a fast-paced development,” said the PM. The PM was publicly speaking for the first time since Rahul Gandhi’s “democracy under threat” remark in London and the Opposition offensive following his disqualification from the Lok Sabha. In a veiled dig at the Opposition, the PM said a campaign had been unleashed to defame India’s institutions and undermine their credibility. “When probe agencies act against the corrupt, the agencies are attacked. When courts pronounce orders, the courts are attacked. Some parties have united to launch ‘bhrashtachari bachao abhiyaan’,” the PM said, asking the BJP cadre to be ready to fight graft, family-based parties, communalism, casteism and anti-India forces at every step.

Listing actions against graft, the PM said the government’s drive had shaken the roots of the corrupt. He said under the PMLA, where Rs 5,000 crore worth of assets were attached during the 10 years of the UPA rule, Rs 1,10,000 crore had been attached in nine years of the NDA government.

“Two times more cases and 15 times more arrests have been made under the PMLA,” he noted, adding that Rs 20,000 crore worth of properties of loan defaulters had also been attached.