Rahul for stringent action against corruption

Aurangabad, Jan 29 (PTI) Rahul Gandhi today demandedstringent and speedy action against corruption and joined thedebate on black money stashed abroad, saying Indian moneylying outside the country should be brought back.

"We have to look into this issue (corruption) in acollective way. Stringent action against corruption is needed.

Punishment should be within six months, instead of 20 years,"he said adressing a press conference on the third and last dayof his visit to Maharashtra.

He was replying to questions on the burning of anAdditional Collector in Nashik by oil mafia earlier this weekand that why action was not taken against the adulterationracket despite a 15-year-old official report on the issue.

Expressing shock over the killing of the official andpromising strong action against the oil mafia, he said one hasto look into the issue why this was happening and to ensurethat such incidents (burning alive) do not recur.

"The way I see this is that corruption is a seriousissue. It (the burning of the official) is a symptom. We haveto see that the symptom does not spread. I believe we have tochange the system.We have to go deeper into the systems as towhat is there in the system that makes this happen," he said.

The Congress General Secretary said collective effortswere needed to tackle corruption and his party had taken sternaction against corruption.

"Corruption is taking place because doors of thepolitical system are closed and the average person who wantsto do good is not allowed in," Gandhi said.

"Common people feel politics is corrupt...it is notworking the way it should work. We believe the only way tochange this is to look at the way parties are structured," hesaid.

On the issue of black money stashed abroad, he said,"First of all, it is not true that government is not puttingin enough efforts. I think we should put as much efforts aspossible to ensure that what is Indian money, what is themoney of the poor people of India, comes back."

He said there was tremendous amount of money that isgenerated by the system which is growing at 8-9 per cent andmay grow at 10-11 per cent.

"The huge amount of money that is generated belongs tothe poor of India and we need to ensure that this money isused for education, healthcare and other needs of the poor,"Gandhi said..