NEW DELHI: Showing unflinching support to anti-corruption agencies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said they "need not be defensive" while tackling graft even when some people with "vested interests" keep hollering and maligning them.
Addressing the 'Vigilance Awareness Week' organised by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the prime minister exhorted the panel, other agencies and officers to ensure that the corrupt should not be spared no matter how powerful the individual may be.
He said it is the responsibility of organisations like the CVC that no corrupt person gets "political or social refuge."
"Every corrupt person should be held accountable by society. It is important to build such an atmosphere. We are seeing that paeans are being sung for people already proven corrupt. People calling themselves honest do not feel the shame to go and get photographed with such corrupt people. This situation is not good for Indian society," he said.
Without taking any names, Modi said people are giving arguments in support of corrupt people and advocating for awards to them. "Agencies like CVC working against corrupt and corruption need not be defensive. If you are working for the welfare of the country, there is no need to live in guilt. We do not have to work on a political agenda, but it is our duty to eradicate problems faced by the common man of the country."
"People with vested interests will holler, they will try to strangulate the institutions, they will try to defame dedicated people sitting in these institutions. It will all happen," he said.
Citing his own experience, the prime minister said during his long tenure as head of the government, he has gone through mud-slinging and abuses, but "people stand with you when you walk on the path of honesty."
"I can tell you from my experience to walk on the path of honesty, to do duty incumbent on you, people will stand with you. Some will keep shouting because their own feet are in the muck. I keep on repeating that if we have followed the path of honesty and integrity, there is no need to be defensive. When you take action with conviction...society stands with you," he said.
The prime minister said the legacy of corruption, exploitation and control over resources that the country got from long periods of colonialism continued post-independence as well. He said eight years of his government has tried to change that by reforming the systems and introducing transparency.
The Prime Minister claimed there were two important reasons which held back the country and promoted corruption in the country -- scarcity (abhaav) of facility and pressure (dabaav) from the government. "Scarcity of resources and opportunities was maintained for a long time allowing a gap to be built. This triggered an unhealthy race to get a benefit or a facility before others. This race nurtured the ecosystem of corruption," he said.
Modi rued that such grassroots corruption affected the poor and middle class which spent all its energy on getting these facilities and benefits.
"We are trying to change this system created by scarcity and pressure, and fill the gap between demand and supply," he said listing out measures taken by his government during the last eight years like Direct Benefit Transfers, Government e-Marketplace, weeding out of fake beneficiaries from PDS, digital transactions, among others.
Modi said all government agencies should work to change the system and tradition of corruption as India is celebrating 75 years of independence. He said the country needs to have "zero tolerance" for corruption in the administrative ecosystem and this would work for the idea of a developed India.
The prime minister suggested that a ranking of government departments on anti-corruption efforts should be done and pending cases of corruption against officials decided in a time-bound fashion.
On the occasion, the prime minister launched the new Complaint Management System portal of the CVC which will provide "end-to-end" information to the citizens through regular updates on the status of their complaints.
He also released pictorial booklets on 'Ethics and Good Practices; compilation of best practices on Preventive Vigilance' and a special issue 'VIGEYE-VANI' on public procurement.
He also gave awards to five students who wrote the best essays during a nationwide essay competition conducted by CVC on the theme of Vigilance Awareness Week "Corruption-free India for a developed nation".