In a scathing attack on the Center and his successor Narendra Modi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the present regime has no understanding of economics. He said the wrong economic policies of the present Government have landed the country t in a deep economic crisis and unemployment has increased manifold. “Today, India stands at a critical juncture,” the former Prime Minister said.
In a brief video message to voters in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur, Singh said farmers, workers, women and students are in trouble. “Farmers are desperately yearning for every single grain of food, social inequality has widened, the debt on the people has been increasing continuously and at the same time, earnings are decreasing and as a result, the rich are becoming richer, while the poor are getting poorer. But this government is painting a rosy picture by manipulating data,” Singh said.
He said the Government is in denial mode and added that instead of accepting their mistakes and correcting them, it is busy trying to blame first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. “I firmly believe that the post of Prime Minister has a special dignity and by blaming history, one cannot wash off one’s own sins. While working for ten years as the Prime Minister of India, I always preferred to let my work speak for me. We have never divided the country for our political gains, never tried to cover up the truth, never let the dignity of the country and position be reduced. Braving every difficulty, we raised the prestige of India and Indians at the international level,” he said.
He said he is satisfied that the false propaganda of the BJP and its junior teams of calling him silent, weak and their allegations of corruption stand exposed. He said the country is appreciating the good work done by the UPA Government. During the peasant movement, attempts were made to defame Punjab and Punjabiyat. “All sorts of things were spoken against Punjabis whose courage, valor, patriotism and sacrifices are saluted by the whole world. As a true Indian born out of the brave soil of Punjab, I am pained by the whole series of incidents,” he added.
He said there is a flaw in both the policy and intentions of this government. “There is selfishness in every policy, while hatred and division are at the root of intentions. To achieve their selfish motives, people are being divided in the name of caste, religion and region and are made to fight among themselves. The fake nationalism of this government is equally hollow and dangerous. Their nationalism rests on the British policy of ‘divide and rule’. This government has no faith in the constitution, which is the fundamental base of our democracy. Constitutional institutions are being constantly weakened,” he added.
He said the Modi Government’s foreign policy is a complete failure. “Chinese soldiers are sitting inside our holy land for the last one year, but efforts are being made to suppress this whole matter. Old friends are constantly alienating us, while our relations with neighboring countries are also deteriorating. I hope that now the ruling dispensation has come to understand that the relations of countries do not improve by forcefully embracing the leaders, playing on a swing with them or going for uninvited biryani,” he added.
Published on
February 17, 2022
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