Kullu/Palampur: Unfazed by the November 8 protest call by the Congress on the first anniversary of demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said burning effigies will not deter him from carrying forward the fight against corruption and black money.
Mr Modi accused the Congress of being responsible for social evils in India. He blamed the party for promoting communal, caste and social disharmony and corruption and asked the people of the hill state to teach it a lesson by bringing the BJP to power with three-fourth majority.
He said it is hard to separate “Congress and corruption from each other” and when it comes to “vikas (development)”, the party is famous for “atkana, latkana aur bhatkana (creating hurdles)”.
“The Congress is planning to observe ‘mourning’ in the coming week. It has nothing to do except grieve in the coming days. I do not fear burning of my effigies. My fight against corruption will not stop,” he said.
Mr Modi accused former PM Indira Gandhi of not going for a note ban when needed and said that he would not have had to carry out this big task had she taken the step years ago.
Voting in 68 Assembly constituencies in the state is due on November 9 and the results will be out on December 18.
Congress fears benami law: PM
“For the Congress, it is never dal se bada desh (country bigger than party). For them only their party’s interest comes first,” he said.
He also claimed that the Congress is now “fearing” that he will bring a law to check benami property and book all those who have brought assets in the name of others as the opposition party had failed to do so when in power.
Mr Modi said there were reports that around 3 lakh companies have shut down after demonetisation and a probe into financial dealings of 5,000 such firms has revealed frauds to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore.
“Imagine what will be the amount of fraud committed by 3 lakh companies,” he said, adding that some of these companies were such which dealt in black money worth crores of rupees but had only two chairs and a table in their offices
