Bengaluru, May 7 : In a scatching attack against NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday said.
“Mr Modi’s language against his opponents is unbecoming of the office of the Prime Minister” and alleged that “when asked to explain reasons for economic ills of the last four years, Modi ji tends to blame everything on the 70 years of the Congress rule”.
“No Prime Minister in our country has used the office of the Prime Minister to say things about his opponent that Mr Modi has been doing day in and day out. It doesn’t behove a Prime Minister to stoop so low and it is not good for the country as a whole as well”
Dr Singh said.
As the Karnataka assembly election will be held on May 12, prominent leaders of both the Congress and the BJP are campaigning in the state.
Addressing a press conference here, Dr Singh, along with Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Gulam Nabi Azad and other Congress leaders, took a potshot at Mr Modi on PNB scam accused Nirav Modi and said, “in fact, the Prime Minister was in Davos in the company of Nirav Modi and only a few days later he ran away from the country.”
“That itself is the reflection of sad state of affairs in this wonderland of Modi government”, Dr Singh added.
Dr Singh said that the Modi government has done two major ‘unavoidable blunders’: demonetisation and the hasty implementation of GST. ”Losses the economy suffered due to these blunders have severely hurt our micro small and medium enterprise sector and have resulted in loss of tens of thousands of jobs”.
“The economic mismanagement of the Modi government, and I say this with great care and responsibility, is slowly eroding the trust of the general public in the banking sector”, cautioned former Prime Minister.
Taking on the Modi government, Dr Singh said that “true leadership creates opportunities, it does not destroy them” and added that “the nation today is experiencing difficult times, farmers facing a crisis, youth not finding opportunities, and economy growing below potential”.
However, “every time we have sought an answer for any of the disastrous policies of the present BJP government, all we hear is that ‘the intentions’ are virtuous”, Dr Singh said.
He also alleged that the Modi government has punished the people by levying excessive excise taxes for the petroleum products. “Instead of passing the benefits of low prices to the people, Modi government has punished the people”, he added.
He said reduced budgets, administrative takeovers, and harassment of students and dissenting voices are a violation of our Constitutional norms. The Prime Minister is blaming the 70 years of Congress governments when questioned about issues.
“Mr Modi forgets the Green revolution… and he forgets to mention that policies of UPA 1 and UPA 2 that brought millions out of poverty”, added Dr Singh.
Asked whether the Congress, if it fails to get absolute majority, will take the support of the JD(S), Dr Singh said he respects former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and in such situations, party leadership takes the decision.
