Advani urges parties, people to confront corruption

CHENNAI - Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Sunday urged political parties and right-thinking people to confront corruption, failing which there would be no peace in the country.

“In the past few months, all the constitutional institutions - Supreme Court, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), parliament - and the media have been highlighting the one single issue that is vexing the nation - corruption in the Commonwealth Games, allocation of 2G spectrum and housing society scams in Maharashtra,” Advani said here.

He told reporters on the margins of a book launch function that corruption is a serious malady and has to be confronted by all right-thinking people. There will be no peace in the country if the political parties do not confront corruption, he said.

Advani said the BJP has been spearheading the campaign against corruption and will continue to do that.

He said that in the monsoon session of parliament, the party focused on inflation and the issue of corruption was highlighted in the just-concluded winter session.

Earlier, releasing the book “Shah Commission Report: Lost, and Regained”, compiled and edited by former parliamentarian Era Sezhiyan, Advani said: “No other book would have served democracy. The Indian government has withdrawn all copies of the Shah Commission report from libraries and its offices.”

The Commission, headed by former chief justice of India J.C. Shah, was appointed by the Janata Party government in 1977 to inquire into the excesses committed during the 1975-77 emergency.

Stating that India is viewed by the world one notch above China because of its democracy, the BJP leader said: “People do not know that once India decided to cancel democracy deliberately.”

Referring to the changing times, he said: “Sacrifice and selflessness of people are not respected in India whereas the other ‘S’ - spectrum scam, scandal - are respected.”

“People want Lakshmi (Hindu goddess of wealth) and not Saraswati (Hindu goddess of knowledge),” he added.

Advani said people should understand what is at stake now and act accordingly. “But in India the voters are influenced more by non-political events than by political events.”

However, it was different in 1977 as people understood and experienced emergency’s ill-effects and voted out the Congress, he said.

“It will be difficult for any party to beat Congress’ record of scoring zero in several states during the 1977 Lok Sabha polls,” the BJP leader said.

Explaining the rationale for the book, Sezhiyan said: “According to various news reports, the Shah Commission report is not available in the public domain. A precious historical and political document cannot die and should not be allowed to be buried and hidden from the public, particularly of India.”