CBI will emerge stronger after the churn is over, says Subramanian Swamy

Hyderabad: Speaking at two different events here, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said, “Why should anyone be afraid of turmoil in the Central Bureau of Investigation? It will only emerge stronger after the churn is over.”

Accusing “certain elements” in the BJP, who he refused to name, of trying to protect former finance minister P. Chidambaram in corruption cases, Dr Swamy said. “Chidambaram tried to join the BJP to protect himself but I stalled his possible entry. Therefore, he is trying backdoor mischief to get away. But he won’t.”

“When I tweeted that I would withdraw all corruption cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was informed and he immediately put an end to all games PC was playing in cahoots with his friends in my party,” he said.

Speaking of women empowerment at the Ficci FLO talk, ‘Indian economy in a tailspin’, moderated by author Sriram Karri, he said the NDA government had failed in delivering on the economic front. Dr Swamy said, “If I am made the finance minister, I will sign a file abolishing income-tax and get to work to ensure the complete turnaround of the economy by increasing interest rates for depositors and lowering rates for loans to SMEs. Arun Jaitely is responsible for the bad state of the economy because he is not an economist.”

Visibly irked by the frequent power cuts during the event at a star hotel, he quipped that he hoped that the people would defeat the TRS government which could not ensure power supply even in the city.

Answering questions posed by students at the BITS-Pilani Hyderabad annual festival, Atmos, he said, “India is third largest economy in the world, not the sixth but for the flawed methodology practised by the World Bank in its calculation based on domestic currency conversion to dollar to calculate GDP. India has the potential to be the world’s largest economy and a developed nation by 2050 but only if youth takes risks and chases excellence and innovation, not safe jobs.”

Expressing confidence in the judiciary in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case, he hoped the Supreme Court would put his own case relating to the fundamental right to worship over the property dispute of the two parties seeking ownership and control of the site.

“The verdict will pave the way for the construction of the Ram temple, else there is the alternative of an ordinance. Either way, we will build the Ram mandir before the elections, which we will sweep owing to the emotion of Hindutva,” Dr Swamy said.