Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given an intrepid clarion call to Central government investigative agencies not to spare any corrupt citizen or official, including politicians in power, at a time when Opposition parties are trying to portray his decisions as only targeting their own. This, they allege, is because the government wants to scuttle moves by different leaders to forge a common platform from which to take on the ruling party which, they say, have gathered momentum.
The jury is out on that complaint and the divide between those who believe that the Prime Minister’s actions are solely guided by electoral considerations and those who see him as the one making a difference when in the past governments would covertly shield the corrupt is huge.
Speaking at the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Mr Modi, however, turned the tables on his detractors, observing that the allegations of the slowly coalescing Opposition were in fact also motivated politically. He said he was unruffled by criticism and would continue to take the war against corruption to its logical conclusion.
Interestingly, no one in the Opposition has ever said that those being targeted by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate or the income tax department, among other agencies, are innocent of taking bribes and kickbacks, establishing illegitimate rent seeking mechanisms, re-routing government spending to their own accounts or laundering money.
The job of the CBI has increased in scope and its principal responsibility is to make India corruption-free, Mr Modi said. This assumes all the more importance, seeing as crucial state elections are lined up ahead while the general elections will take place next year.
Spare no corrupt, Mr Modi said, and the entire country will hope it will be the final outcome.
