New Delhi :Former prime minister Manmohan Singh took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of having failed the electorate and eroding the faith of those who voted him to power. Speaking during the release of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s book ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and His India’, Singh launched the scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongman.
“In the past four years, Modi ji and his government have failed the electorate and eroded voters’ faith… Modi has spoken of being Prime Minister for all Indians but remained silent in the face of communal violence, mob lynching and cow vigilantism,” said the former prime minister.
Singh also targeted Modi over the ongoing controversy surrounding the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), saying, “Environment in country’s institutions like the CBI is being vitiated.”
Singh also slammed the Prime Minister and the NDA government at the Centre over rise in fuel prices and other economic issues.
On the economic front, nothing concrete has been done to bring back the promised billions allegedly held abroad as black money. A hastily implemented demonetisation and GST have proved to be disastrous for economy.
“Petrol and diesel prices are at historic high despite the fall in international crude oil prices because the Modi government chose to levying excessive excise duty instead of passing on the benefit of the low prices to the people of India,” he said.
Singh termed the Modi government as having achieved “nothing more than a series of empty gestures” and characterised it with “foolhardy initiatives”.
The attack by the former prime minister came on a day when the Congress party staged protests outside CBI offices across the country, alleging that the government had sent agency chief Alok Verma on leave as he was asking questions about the Rafale fighter jets deal with France.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi led the protests outside CBI headquarters in the national capital. The Gandhi scion, along with other senior Congress leaders, also courted arrest. Attacking Prime Minister Modi, Rahul Gandhi said that the former might “run and hide but the truth would be revealed”.
“The Prime Minister can run, he can hide but in the end, truth will be revealed. Removing CBI Director will not help. Prime Minister acted against CBI Director, it was an act out of panic,” the Gandhi scion told mediapersons soon after leaving the police station.
