“The Significance Of Fighting Against Corruption” at Arts Faculty, Delhi University.Dr Subramanian Swamy, whose PIL in the Supreme Court pushed the issue of irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation auction to the political centrestage, addressed students of Delhi University at the event. The Harvard-trained economist and scholar explained the intricacies of the alleged 2G scam and also gave a detailed account of his initiatives to ensure that the law caught up with those responsible for misuse of public money. He told the gathering that mechanisms and institutions that were formed to ensure the smooth functioning of democracy in India continued to be strong and that people must not lose faith in them.
He inspired young students to rise to the occasion by adding that each one of us has the right and means to fight against corruption and therefore we mist fight. People must approach the courts fearlessly, for example, and must shed the general pessimist view that our systems do not work, Dr Swamy added. He also opined that time was ripe for a people’s movement on the lines of the movement that the country witnessed under the stewardship of Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan, the founder of Janata Party, in the 1970s. Dr Swamy also declared at the event that he would not spare any effort to ensure that everybody involved with mass siphoning of public money in India in the past few years, not least in the 2G scam, was brought to book.
Senior journalist Ram Bahadur Rai also expressed his views on why Indian youth should continue its fight against this menace. He opined that certain vested interests were working overtime to gradually weaken India’s hallowed institutions and therefore the aam aadmi must fight to ensure the revamp of our institutions, so that the democratic process could be strengthened.
Institutions like Sahbhag could play a monumental role in ensuring the success of this struggle, he added.
Addressing the students, DUSU President Jitender Chaudhary also agreed that fighting against corruption was indeed the need of the hour. He also expressed his commitment towards playing a pro-active role in the society’s fight against corruption.
B Sanjay, a journalist and senior functionary of Sahbhag, told the gathering that to talk about empowerment of the masses and not fight for preventing siphoning of public money was mere lip service.
Thanking everybody who made the event take shape, Bhawna Arya Bajaj, President, Sahbhag observed that it was time for one and all, especially the youth, to think beyond themselves, their families and their careers and focus their energies to fight against corruption.
Not only students, but lecturers of Delhi University also attended the event, which ended with a Q&A-based interaction between Dr. Swamy and the audience.
