Congress siphoned off Rs 57,000 crore in subsidy meant for poor: PM Modi

DHARAMSHALA: PM Narendra Modi took a dig at the Congress by recalling Rajiv Gandhi’s enduring remark that a mere 15 paise out of every rupee reach the intended beneficiary. Modi said Rajiv was a doctor who could identify the malaise but not its remedy.

“It was Rajiv Gandhi who’d said that when one rupee begins its journey from Delhi, it gets reduced to 15 paise by the time it reaches the poor,” Modi said. Rajiv’s comment was seen as proof that top echelons knew well that corruption was claiming money meant for the poor.

Addressing an election rally in Una district, Modi said, “He (Rajiv) had diagnosed the problem of corruption, (but) did nothing about it” . Congress used to call Rajiv ‘Mr Clean’, but this stopped after his name appeared in the Bofors scam, he said, adding, “Those who’ve ruled the country for the longest time are asking account of performance for three years.”

Modi added, “When we took charge in Delhi, officials disclosed about subsidies being issued under fake names. We’ve taken steps to stop the leakage of subsidies.” Subsidies worth Rs 57,000 crore had been siphoned off, which are now secure after the government linked it with Aadhaar card, he said.

The PM said three lakh companies were seized since the demonetisation drive. “Our special team has scrutinised 5,000 companies out of these three lakh. There’s one company which had 2,100 accounts,” Modi said, adding that these firms were fake and soon more details would be released.

He also said the Congress will burn his effigies for demonetisation but it doesn’t affect him. “Everyone was hit by (demonetisation) drive. But those who were honest recovered their hard-earned money. Others were perturbed as their money stacked in rags was made to be deposited in banks.”

Demonetisation helped trace the source of public money, he said. “It helped us trace the inflow and outflow. Who was funding stone-pelters in Kashmir for years? Our forces kept standing in Kashmir and groups of youths use to hit them with stones as they were paid to do this. But after demonetisation, it stopped,” he said.

Calling the

Himachal polls

“one-sided”, Modi said Congress had left “the battlefield”. Accusing it of “rampant corruption”, he said Congress had siphoned off Rs 57,000 crore meant as subsidy for the poor. He said “corruption is the only identity of the Congress party”. “Congress has the habit of being leisurely in power. But BJP is different. Shanta Kumar, our first CM, spent his tenure providing water to people in the hills and Dhumalji’s contribution towards promoting tourism in Himachal is well known.” “Himachal Pradesh needs to be rid of five mafia: mining, forest, drug, tender and transfer mafia,” he added.

He said GST has helped the transport sector and truck movement between states and seeding Aadhaar cards with bank accounts has eliminated middlemen, and subsidies now reach beneficiaries directly.

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