Eightfold “Scorching corruption like fire”

From B.S Raghavan’s Congress renews pledge to end corruption: 

• Reminiscent of the eightfold path of the Buddha (right thinking, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort and right possessions), the President of the Indian National Congress, Ms Sonia Gandhi, has also come out with an eightfold path (fast-tracking of corruption cases against big shots in politics and administration, abolition of the Central and State Governments' discretionary powers of any kind, state funding of elections, transparency in public procurement, adoption of public interest as the sole criterion for leasing/auctioning of public assets, protection to whistleblowers, avoidance of vulgar displays of wealth and waste, and adherence to simplicity, restraint and austerity “as our chosen way”) to fight corruption to the finish. 

• We, the people, delight in the fact that there is not one political establishment which, while seeking our votes during elections, has not solemnly promised to unearth and bring to book the corrupt and the crooked. Actually, the tradition goes back to the period before Independence, when the Congress vowed to hang the black marketers, profiteers and the fleecers of the people from the nearest lamp post.