UPA govt most corrupt regime India has ever seen: BJP MP Sushil Modi

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader in Rajya Sabha Sushil Modi on Saturday termed the previous UPA government as the most corrupt regime India has ever seen but the opposition hit back saying common people experience corruption everyday but the current government refuses to see it.

Initiating a short duration discussion on 'White Paper on Indian Economy' in the Upper House, Modi attacked the Congress for economic mismanagement and scams during the 10 years of the UPA rule.

He listed out the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led government and reeled out data comparing the progress made during 2014-2024 with that of the UPA regime.

"The ten years of UPA was the most corrupt regime which this country has ever seen," he claimed, citing examples of scams such as the 2G, coal block allocation, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh Housing Society among others.

In the UPA regime, Sushil Modi said, seven of its ministers had to either resign or go to jail for corrupt activities.

"Corruption was rampant, banking crisis was massive and stake was too high," he said, adding that domestic investors went overseas due to policy paralysis, project delays and uncertainties.

He further said, "The decade of UPA was a lost decade. There was leadership crisis. We lost economic growth. India became a fragile economy due to economic mismanagement."

Sushil Modi said in the 10 years of Narendra Modi government, there has not been one case of corruption either against any of the ministers or against the prime minister.

Despite being the chief minister of Gujarat for a long period, there was not even one case of corruption against him, he added.

After inheriting an economy in a weak condition, with public finance in dire straits and riddled with economic mismanagement in 2014, the Modi government turned things around, increasing coal production through auction of coal blocks in a transparent manner and made the country a power sufficient country, he said.

In contrast to the 2G scam, he said, the current government undertook spectrum auction and achieved the fastest roll out of 5G in the world with 98 per cent of villages getting covered with 5G and 4G networks today.

Taking part in the discussion, Fauzia Khan (NCP) said,"More than calling it a white paper on the Indian economy, I would call it a white paper on the upcoming elections."

Arguing that the paper does not speak about corruption, she asserted,"Corruption is on the rise but what can be done if the government refuses to see it. Look at it from the point of view of a common man.

"Go to a police station, go to a tehsil or go to any education office, you will see corruption there. How can you say there is no corruption when the common man experiences it everyday in his life?" she said.

Khan further asked,"What about the people who have been called corrupt by the honourable prime minister and then later taken into their party as alliance members?... Is this not corruption?... How does a person become clean in two days?"

She said while the government pats its own back on the growing economy and hits out at the opposition, it refuses to look at the ground realities.

"Inequality in India is at obscene levels. While still home to a very large number of people living in destitution, the number of dollar billionaires in India has increased. Our white paper speaks nothing about the impact of the economy on the people which is part of the title," she said.

The document does not speak about widespread unemployment, rising prices and crimes against women, she added.

She also raised the issue of farmers' suicides and accused the government of stoking fire of hatred.

"Is this Ram Rajya where the seeds of hate are sown? Is this Ram Rajya where bulldozers are used to raze the houses of poor people? Is this Ram Rajya where mob lynching takes place?" Khan asked.

BJP members Ghanshyam Tiwari, Pabitra Margherita, Sikander Kumar, Vijay Pal Singh Tomar and Seema Dwivedi also hit out at the previous UPA regime for corruption and economic mismanagement while praising the various steps taken by the current government to lead India towards one of the largest and fastest growing economies of the world.