Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday made a scathing attack on his predecessor Manmohan Singh, mocking his “Mr Clean” persona by referring to a series of scam that took place during Singh’s tenure as the PM.
The PM’s punch and jibe at Manmohan Singh provoked angry reactions from Congress members who staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha in the mid of the reply by the Prime Minister to the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.
The motion was later adopted by the House after negation of all the 651 Amendments.
The Congress threatened to boycott the proceedings of the House whenever the PM attends it until he apologises.
Targeting Singh, Modi said, “In this country, perhaps there will be hardly anyone from the economic field who has had dominance on the country’s financial affairs for half of the country’s 70 years of Independence. Out of 70 years, for 30-35 years, he has been directly associated with financial decisions.
“So many scams occurred... We politicians have a lot to learn from Dr sahab. So much happened, there is not a single blot on him. Dr sahab is the only person who knows the art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on,” Modi said which resulted a chaos in the Upper House with Congress members requesting Singh too walkout along with them.
While Modi asserted that the fight against black money is not a political one or against any party, he targeted Singh who had described demonetisation as “organised loot” and “legalised plunder” in his speech in Winter Session. like in the lok Sabha a day earlier, Modi refrained from making a direct attack on the Congress’ “first family”.
Singh, while speaking in the Rajya Sabha during the last Winter Session, had castigated the Prime Minister over demonetisation, saying its implementation was a “monumental management failure” and a case of “organised loot and legalised plunder.”
As Congress members created uproar and staged a walkout, an angry Modi said, “If you cross the limits of decorum, then you should have courage to listen to the response. We have the capacity to pay in the same coin. We do so within the limits of decorum and boundaries of the Constitution. They (Congress) don’t want to accept the defeat in any form. How long will it continueIJ”
He went on to add, “The person who held such a high post, used the words ‘loot’ and ‘plunder’ in the House. Then they (Congress) also should have thought 50 times (before using those words).”
Modi also took a swipe at Singh using the pretext of a book. “Manmohan Singh ji had delivered a speech here... Recently a book was released in which Manmohan Singh ji had written the Foreword. Initially, I thought he is a renowned economist and it (the book) will have his contribution. But then I realised that the book was written by somebody else and he had only written the foreword. In his speech also, I felt the same,” the Prime Minister said. This too triggered an uproar from the Congress members.
To this, Modi took a dig, saying, “The word I did not even utter, that too they (Congress members) have understood.”
As Congress members shouted slogans, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu took strong objection, questioning why the Opposition members were so agitated when terms like “Hitler” were used against Modi in the same House. “I request you to go through the records. Prime Minister was called Hitler. Prime Minister was called Mussolini,” Naidu said.
The Prime Minister said while 125 crore countrymen are making efforts to come out of “inner malaise” of black money and corruption, the Congress and other Opposition parties are standing against it.
Members of the left, the Trinamool Congress and the JD(U) also staged walkout after Modi’s reply, complaining that they were unhappy with Modi’s statement and wanted to ask questions which was disallowed.
Modi, in his over one-hour speech, focused his attack on the Congress and other Opposition parties for criticising the demonetisation decision and his push for cash-less economy. He also slammed the Congress for finding faults with lack of proper infrastructure in the country, saying by doing so they were only presenting their “report card” of 70-year rule.