New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said that corruption was a cancer and noted that fault lines in democracy were the handiwork of those who have made power a gateway to greed. In his address on the eve of Republic Day, the president said that democracy has never been betrayed by people.

He also said that people feel angry, “and rightly so”, when they see democratic institutions being weakened by complacency and incompetence. “If we hear an anthem of despair from the street, it is because people feel that a sacred trust is being violated,” he said.

“Corruption is a cancer that weakens the foundations of our state. If Indians are enraged, it is because they are witnessing a waste of national resources,” he added.