Amit Shah attacks Manmohan Singh over graft under his watch

Surat: A Prime Minister's responsibility is not limited to his personal integrity but extends to uprooting corruption from the entire system, BJP president Amit Shah said on Wednesday as he attacked former PM Manmohan Singh over a string of scams that took place under his watch.

"I firmly believe that a Prime Minister's responsibility is not just limited to not indulging in corruption, but it is also his responsibility to stop others as well so as to uproot corruption from the entire system," Shah told reporters on Surat.

"Under Manmohan's leadership scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore were committed. How can Congress shrug off its responsibility for this," Shah said.

The BJP chief was responding to a scathing attack by Singh earlier in the day during which he said the Narendra Modi government was "harping" on corruption to divert people's attention to non-issues and asserted that he never used public office to "enrich" himself, family or friends.

"There were those who used to give zero loss theory, like zero loss in spectrum allocation, zero loss in coal allocation.

"Today, under the BJP government, coal auction of 20 mines has generated Rs 2 lakh crore. This shows that heavy loss had taken place. And the loss was more than what was estimated by the CAG. One-third spectrum was auctioned by us from which we have earned Rs 1.09 lakh crore and deposited this money into the national coffer. This shows there was loss in 2G, too," he said.

Demanding answers from the Congress, Shah alleged the UPA government "looted" national wealth.

"Congress should give answers, those who had floated zero loss theory need to be made answerable now. They should accept that there were scams and they looted nation's wealth," Shah said.

"It is not enough to just talk about eradicating corruption. There is an expectation from the PM that he will provide corruption-free rule," Shah said.

Taking pot shots at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Shah said he was the "only confused" person on the land acquisition bill and claimed farmers have understood the legislation.

"Land acquisition bill is not an anti-farmer bill, but a farmer-friendly bill. Farmers have also understood this now. There is no confusion anywhere, confusion is only in the mind of Shri Rahul Gandhi," the BJP leader said.

He was replying a query on whether the launch of a 24X7 farmers' channel by the Modi government yesterday was an exercise to counter the opposition propaganda against the land bill.

"The decision to launch the channel was taken by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry much before the land bill was proposed," he said.

Modi had on Tuesday launched 'DD Kisan Channel', which would provide information about best agricultural practices and related content. The move came at a time when the Modi government is

battling the perception of it being anti-farmer.

Shah also said efforts for the merger of the 'Janata Parivar' was born out of fear of the BJP.

"They (Janta Parivar parties) have fear of BJP in their minds. Otherwise, why the people, who were in political enmity for 20 years, are now coming on one platform. As BJP is going strong they are scared of it," he said.

Exuding confidence about BJP's victory in Bihar assembly polls, he said his party will win an absolute majority. He refused to be drawn into the controversy triggered by Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's comments that those wanting to eat beef should go to Pakistan and his cabinet colleague Kiren Rijiju's response describing it as "unpalatable".

"As far as the question of ban on cow slaughter is concerned, wherever BJP is in power, we have put a ban. What Naqviji has said I don't want to make any comment on his statement as those were his personal views," Shah said.

To a question on anti-minority statements by some BJP leaders and ministers, he said the party has dissociated itself from such remarks.

"Whatever comments have been made (about minorities), BJP has always disassociated itself from them. BJP firmly believes that all have to exercise control while speaking," he said. Citing media surveys on one-year of Modi government, Shah said newspapers across the country have started writing in BJP's favour.

"For the first time, newspapers have started writing in favour of BJP. You pick any newspaper, you will find every newspaper has given 65 to 70 per cent marks to Modi government," he said, adding "this is a matter of happiness for us."