KARWAR: Senior BJP leader L K Advani held the Union government responsible for rampant corruption in the country. Addressing a public meeting of over 10,000 persons at Kumta on Tuesday, he said the Central government had become dysfunctional and administration had been paralysed. Advani chided Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for asserting in the Governors’ conference recently that the time had come to take action against corruption. “This should have been done a long time back.” The former deputy prime minister while insisting that India was not corrupt, said it was perceived so internationally. “The government and a few leaders are corrupt. People of the nation by and large are honest and hard working,” he said. “Corruption had pushed the country to the backyard of the world. Although we could achieve swaraj (self rule), we have been unable to attain swarajya (welfare state),” Advani added. He blamed dynastic rule in the country and poor governance for the prevailing situation. Alleging that black money earned through corrupt practices had been stashed in Swiss banks by many, he said the Swiss government had passed an act called ‘Restitution of Illegal Assets Act’, by which any country, whose citizens had deposited money in Swiss banks, could be brought back. While countries like the USA, Germany and even some African countries had been recovering this money, why has the UPA government not taken similar steps? he questioned, adding he would raise the issue in the winter session of the Parliament. “Six lakh villages could prosper if Rs 25 lakh crore stashed in banks are recovered and invested here,” he said. Advani claimed that the people had responded well to his Jan Chetna Yatra like his Ram Rath Yatra undertaken earlier.
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