Wage War Against Corruption: Narayan

Lok Satta Party president, Jayaprakash Narayan said on Thursday, that the time had come for the country to declare a war on corruption, since there was a broad consensus not merely on its prevalence, but the threat it posed to the future of the country.

Addressing a meeting at the party headquarters after unfurling the national flag to mark Hyderabad State Liberation Day, Narayan said that people belonging to all regions and sections of the country perceived corruption as a common threat.

The LSP chief said,"Corruption eradication is possible because Indians per se are not evil people. Systemic changes, for instance, have helped eradicate corruption in the telecom sector. If we ensure that the corrupt are jailed, thrown out of positions of power and disgorged of ill-gotten wealth, corruption will make a hasty retreat".

On the allegations of corruption against some of the former Chief Justices of India, Dr Narayan said it was better to expose corruption than to conceal it and we must utilize the occasion to cleanse the system. He further stated that it was sad that no institution in the country was untainted by corruption.

Narayan said that September 17th, 1948 witnessed the last and the biggest princely State being integrated with India and though it had taken bloody battles and 23 years for 9 kingdoms in Italy, and 39 kingdoms in Germany to unite into nations, more than 540 princely States were united into Indian Union peacefully within a year.

“We should not take our national unity accomplished by patriots and visionaries like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for granted. We should be ready to make any sacrifice for preserving and promoting our country’s unity and integrity.”

"The liberation of Hyderabad State from the Nizam rule has nothing to do with religion. It was a culmination of the struggle for one India under one flag, and against despotic rule waged by all sections of people including the Leftists", Narayan said.

Narayan recalled how the country had to be partitioned because of religious fanaticism and the cataclysmic event saw 15 million people being displaced, 1.5 million losing their lives and 600,000 people being injured. He also pointed out that in the recent past, Yugoslavia had broken into different countries after the death of its President Tito.

Narayan said,"There are forces in the country which are out to disrupt the unity of the country in the name of region, religion, caste and language, to serve their partisan greed of coming to power at any cost. Power and positions have become means for looting the public and not for serving them".

Narayan lamented that it was unfortunate that the integrity of the highest Judiciary had come under a shadow, even as Hyderabad lawyers, who were supposed to preserve and protect the Constitution, have resorted to unprofessional conduct by resorting to violence.

Courtesy: INN