lashing out at successive Congress regimes for “sullying” India’s reputation “as the most corrupt destination in the world”, the BJP on Tuesday maintained that in the last 18 months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has enhanced its image and prestige all over the world with result being evident in the form of ever increasing FDI inflows into the country.
Addressing a Press conference, BJP spokesperson GVl Narasimha Rao said the Congress party is synonymous with corruption and it is for this reason that the acronym INC to most means “India’s Naturally Corrupt party.”
“Successive Congress regimes in the past have sullied India’s reputation as the most corrupt destination in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has enhanced India’s image and prestige all over the world with his tireless and exemplified efforts”, he said.
The BJP spokesperson said in December 2012, the Wal-Mart disclosed that it spent Rs125 crore for various lobbying activities since 2008 for “enhanced market access for investment in India.” Despite our party’s repeated demands, the Congress government never probed the allegations and remained mum.
“The Congress party’s shift of position from 2008 to 2012 on multi-brand retail smacks of a mega scam. In January 2007, Sonia Gandhi had written to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take a hard look at the impact that the entry of foreign players would have on small scale stores and neighbourhood stores and to first put in place safeguards to protect their interests.
“Without putting any such safeguards in place, in December 2012, Manmohan Singh government pushed the bill hurriedly through the two houses of Parliament allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail. The Wal-Mart paid huge “lobbying” amounts during the same period - 2008 to December 2012 when Sonia Gandhi remained “concerned” of the impact on small retailers, Rao pointed out.
Was the Congress party’s change in position on multi-brand retail from 2008 to 2012 a result of successful “lobbying” efforts by Wal-MartIJ , Rao asked.