Amar is back, it’s sound bite time

Today, the Samajwadi Party has got its voice back. Party general secretary Amar Singh did not mince his words at his first public appearance within days of returning from Singapore, where he underwent a kidney transplant. Sanchita Sharma reports.

Today, the Samajwadi Party has got its voice back. Party general secretary Amar Singh did not mince his words at his first public appearance within days of returning from Singapore, where he underwent a kidney transplant.

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Dressed in white with a cloth mask across his mouth, Singh spoke for over 20 minutes to a packed house “against the advice from his doctors and family”.

The two months of post-op exile in Singapore did not prevent him on commenting on everything, from India’s GDP and healthcare industry to the Congress’ austerity drive and his bete-noire Mayawati’s obsession with statues and pink elephants.

Singh was critical of India’s economic growth indicators. “Our finance minister keeps citing GDP, but the GDP reflects the growth of Mukesh and Anil Ambani, not India…” he said at the Second Health Writers & Communications Convention in New Delhi.

Singh said he chose to undergo a transplant abroad because he had no faith in hospitals in India. “I’m a second-term chairman of the parliamentary committee on health but my health could not be protected in my own country,” lamented Singh, who arrived back from Singapore on September 20.

The Congress’s austerity drive also drew flak from Singh. “Chidambaram drives his own car, so does Mamata Banerjee, and everyone knows it. If the government practises austerity, then it should be evident to people and they need not exhibit it in front of everybody.”