Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tore into the NDA Government’s foreign policy on Thursday and said the BJP had been in power for more than seven years and was still blaming first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the problems of the people.
His comments invited a strong rebuttal from the External Affairs Ministry (MEA), which dismissed them as a “political message.” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also hit back Singh and reminded him that inflation was at an all-time peak during his regime.
In a video message delivered in Punjabi ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls, Singh said the Centre has proved to be a “complete failure” on the foreign policy front and recalled how under his tenure prestige of India and Indians was enhanced at international level. Singh said, “Old friends are constantly alienating us, while our relations with neighbouring countries are also deteriorating”.
Singh alleged the Chinese soldiers have been occupying “our pious land for the last one year but effort is being made to suppress this issue”.
“I hope that by now the ruling dispensation would have realised that relations between countries do not improve by forcefully embracing leaders, playing on a swing with them or going uninvited to have biryani,” Singh stated in an obvious reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharing a traditional swing with Chinese president Xi Jinping during the latter’s 2014 India visit and his sudden Lahore visit to meet then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2015.
In his scathing attack against the Modi-led Government, Singh said the BJP had been in power for more than seven years and was still blaming first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the problems of the people.
Targeting the Central Government on a host of issues, including the farmers’ agitation, foreign policy, price rise and unemployment, Singh said the BJP’s nationalism was “fake” and was based on the British policy of “divide and rule”.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “From my perspective, this is purely or clearly a political message, not a policy one. So I think from my position here I would not like to get into that. As regards China, the facts of the matter are clear, I don’t need to reiterate them. We have been discussing the processes of the conversation with China and how the situation has arisen...I think repeatedly we have said that. On the other issues, as I said, a political message clearly not a policy one, so I don’t think I should dwell more into that.”
With the Congress targeting the Centre saying its governance was visible only in advertisements, Singh said, “The truth somehow always comes to the fore. It is very easy to talk big things but it is very difficult to put those things into action.”
He said the Government does not have trust in the country’s constitution and “institutions are continuously being weakened”.
“Today the situation is very worrisome. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the short-sighted policies of the Central Government, on the one hand, have caused people to suffer from a falling economy, rising inflation, and unemployment,” he said.
Singh, who is a noted economist, said they have no understanding of the economy, which was not in a healthy shape.
“Unemployment has reached its peak in the whole country today. Farmers, businessmen, students, women are all unhappy,” he said.
Hitting back at Singh for his criticism of the Modi Government’s handling of the economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said he is more remembered for having brought India to “fragile five” and rampant inflation during his term.
“I have great regards for you (Singh). I did not expect this from you,” Sitharaman said, wondering if he is suddenly speaking about the economy because of the “electoral consideration” of the Punjab Assembly polls.
She also referred to recent revelations about former NSE chief Chitra Ramkrishna having taken guidance of a ‘Himalayan Yogi’ in running the country’s biggest stock exchange and said Singh was not even aware how the bourse was being run for so long when he was in power.
She compared data on export, FDI, and inflation during the Modi Government with Singh’s dispensation to claim that economic indicators are much better now.
“Social inequality is increasing in the country, the debt on the people is constantly increasing, while the earnings are decreasing,” he said. He said the rich are becoming richer while the poor are becoming poorer. “But this Government is portraying that everything is fine by manipulating figures,” Singh said further.
“In every policy, there is selfishness, while in intent there is hatred and division. People are being divided in the name of caste and region for their selfish interests...,” he said. The former Prime Minister also referred to the security lapse of Modi’s convoy being stuck on a flyover in Ferozepur last month.
“A few days ago, in the name of the Prime Minister’s security, an attempt was made to defame Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the people of the State...,” he said. “During the farmers’ agitation too, an attempt was made to defame Punjab and Punjabiyat,” he said.
The Congress leader said he had worked as Prime Minister for 10 years and had always preferred that his work should speak for itself.
“We never divided the country for political gains. We never tried to put curtains on the truth. Never let the country’s prestige or that of the post be lowered,” he said.
Singh also said he was satisfied that the “false propaganda” under which various allegations were leveled by the BJP and “its B and C teams” against him and his dispensation when he was the PM has come to light today and the country remembers the good work of the Congress-led UPA regime from 2004-2014.