New Delhi, April 15: Refuting the opposition parties' allegations of "being sent to jail by the BJP government", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the maximum number of cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate are against those persons and entities who have no connection with politics.
In an interview with ANI, Prime Minister Modi said that honest person has nothing to fear about but those involved in corruption has "Paap ka dar" (fear of sin).
"How many opposition leaders are in jail? No one tells me. And is this the same opposition leader... who used to run their government? There is fear of sin (paap ka dar hai). What fear does an honest person have? They had put my Home Minister in Jail when I was Chief Minister. The country should understand that political leaders are involved in only 3 per cent of the ED cases and 97 per cent of cases are registered against the ones who do not belong to the politics," Prime Minister said.
"They are either drug mafia, officers who are involved in corruption, against some of the officers who have created benami assets and they have been sent to jail," he added.
Prime Minister further lauded the Enforcement Directorate and said that since he took charge at the Centre in 2014, the central agency has significantly contributed in tackling corruption.
"Before 2014, the ED attached only assets worth Rs 5000 crore. Did anyone stopped ED from taking action and who were getting benefitted? In my tenure, assets worth Rs 1 lakh crore has been attached. Is this not the money of the people of the country?" PM asked.
"In the last ten years, we have recovered Rs 2200 crore in cash, while ED before 2014, could only recover Rs 34 lakh cash which can be carried in a school bag. While 70 small trucks (chota haathi) will be need to keep Rs 2200 crore. It means that the ED is doing a good job," he added.
Prime Minister said that corruption has destroyed the country and it has to be tackled with full might.
(ANI)
