Justice Hegde Lauds Narendra Modi’s Win at FIS Distinguished Lecture

FIS Director, Harshit Krishna Marepalli (left), Mrs. Sharada Hegde, former Justice of Supreme Court of India, Santosh Hegde (speaker), FIS Chair, Krishna Vavilala, Event Chair, Hiren Sarma and Directors Nish Bhan and Dr. Ritu Patel.

HOUSTON: India’s former Supreme Court Justice Santosh Hegde praised the reelection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the recent general elections, saying it was perhaps more due to the personal popularity of Mr. Modi than necessarily the appeal of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Justice Hegde spoke at the Foundation for India Studies (FIS) Distinguished Lecture Series on Saturday, June 8 at Madras Pavilion. Disillusioned by corruption in India, Justice Hegde said he had voted NOTA (None of the Above) in previous elections, but he did cast his vote in this general election.

Hegde gained his reputation as a fighter against corruption when he exposed a mining scam in the state of Karnataka, implicating three chief ministers, in his role role as the Lok Yukta (People’s Defender).

FIS Founder Krishna Vavilala introduced Justice Hegde and described various FIS activities, including the launching of India Studies at the University of Houston, and the oral history project in association with the Houston Public Library. Vavilala said the library has archived more than 60 interviews with first-generation Indo-Americans in the Houston area.

In his remarks, Justice Hegde cites the last five years of the Modi government as being essentially corruption free as opposed to the series of scams that had plagued the previous Congress governments. Hegde also praised the strong military actions India has taken recently against terrorism.