Facing the opposition charge of corruption in the Rafale deal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday used a famous remark made by former PM Rajiv Gandhi to present his government’s report card on corruption.

Without naming Rajiv Gandhi, Modi referred to his comment that only 15 paise of a rupee reaches the masses and said the Congress government had done nothing to stop the leakage, while the NDA government has “changed how the country was ruled in the last four-and-half-years”.

Speaking to non-resident Indians while inaugurating the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Varanasi, the PM said that Rs 4.50 lakh crore would have vanished if the Congress was still in power.

Explaining how he arrived at the mammoth figure, the PM said, "You must have heard of an ex-prime minister talking of corruption. He said only 15 per cent of a rupee from Delhi reaches villages and that 85 paise disappears. For so many years, the party that ruled the country accepted this."

He added that this government has distributed Rs 5.80 lakh crore to people by transferring the amount directly to their bank accounts through various schemes. “Imagine, if the country was being run on the older system? Then Rs. 4,50,000 crore would have vanished," he said.

Modi said the statement by the former PM was an “admission of the fallacy of the system created by then ruling party” but his government had stepped in to rectify the situation. The "85 per cent loot" taking place during the Congress regime had been plugged "100 per cent" through technology, he stated.

He also said the NDA government had identified 7 crore people who were not born but were taking benefits from the government. “They were all living only on paper...This is a glimpse of the change that we have brought in the last four and a half years,” he told the audience.

He further said that NRIs were the country's brand ambassadors and said they were the symbols of the country’s capabilities. “People of Indian origin are in leadership roles in countries such as Mauritius, Portugal and Ireland," he said.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is being organised from January 21 to 23 for the first time instead of January 9-11. The changes were made to allow NRI participants to visit the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad and attend the Republic Day parade in the national capital.