Narain, credited for exposing the hawala-scam accused, was here to address a one-day seminar on, `National Character and Image-Building,' organised by the Lions CLub of Vadodara (South) and the Lions club of Dabhoi.

According to Narain, if the leaders were trying to portray that the country was passing through an economic crisis, then they were just trying to divert the attention of the people. ``If the country has to repay a debt of $51 million then the leaders of this country also have assets worth $110 millions invested in various parts of the world,'' alleged Narain.

Such leaders never took the initiative of diverting these funds, he claimed adding that political parties ``were more like private limited parties thinking only about their family and not people''.

Narain said that there was also a lack of awareness and networking between the people and the leaders. ``It is only at the time of elections that the leaders are out to listen to the problems. If these were done even during their tenure then catering to all problems faced by people would be easier.'' he said.

Coming down heavily on the organisers, Narain alleged that the most of the time members of the Lion Club or the Rotary were more engaged in praising their own efforts or welcoming their members. ``When a programme is meant for discussions on serious topics, organisers should see to it that the formalities did not exceed more than five minutes,'' said Narain.