BJP still blames Nehru instead of admitting its mistakes: Manmohan
In a video message in Hindi released ahead of elections in Punjab, the veteran Congress leader, the first and only Sikh to be the country’s Prime Minister, also cautioned voters against the BJP’s “divisive politics”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power for more than seven years but continues to blame first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the problems of the people, former prime minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday as he mounted a blistering attack on the Narendra Modi-led government.
And bilateral relations “do not improve by forcefully hugging leaders, sitting together on a swing or reaching out to eat biryani uninvited”, he added.
In a video message in Hindi released ahead of elections in Punjab, the veteran Congress leader, the first and only Sikh to be the country’s Prime Minister, also cautioned voters against the BJP’s “divisive politics” and accused the Centre of attempting to “defame Punjab and Punjabiyat”.
“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,” Singh said.
“On the other hand, the present government which has been in power for the last seven-and-a-half years, rather than admitting their mistakes and making amends, is still blaming first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for being responsible for people’s problems,” he added. ‘They have no understanding of economic policy.”
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she is “hurt” by the comments because they are akin to pulling India down. She reminded Singh that he is remembered for “having made India into a Fragile Five economy” and not being able to “control inflation for 22 months”
Drawing a parallel between himself and his successor, the 89-year-old said: “I clearly believe that the post of prime minister has its own dignity and blaming history cannot reduce one’s sins. Working for 10 years as prime minister, I preferred to speak about my work rather than speaking more about myself.”
“We have never divided the country for our political gains, never tried to cover up the truth, never let the dignity of the country and post be reduced. Despite every difficulty, we raised the value of India and Indians at the international level,” he added.
Sitharaman responded by asking Singh whether “electoral conditions can make a learned former PM of this country, who is also an economist, speak ill of India, which is, despite the pandemic, now one of the fastest growing economies in the world?”
Singh also targeted the Centre over its “lack of understanding of the economy and wrong economic policies”, which he said, have led to an “economic crisis and peak levels of unemployment”. “While earnings are decreasing, the rich are becoming richer while the poor are becoming poorer. But this government is juggling the figures and telling everything is fine,” he said.
Taking on the Modi government over its foreign policy , Singh said: “The issue is not only about the problem within the country, this government has proved to be a complete failure on the foreign policy front as well. Chinese soldiers are sitting on our holy land for the last one year, but efforts are being made to suppress that whole matter. Old friends are constantly splintering from us, while our relations with neighbouring countries are also deteriorating.”
Responding to Singhs message -- his reference was to Modi sharing a traditional swing with Chinese president Xi Jinping during the latter’s 2014 visit to India and his sudden Lahore visit in 2015 to meet then Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif -- the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said it was a “purely a political message” and not a policy one, news agency PTI reported.
Singh exhorted voters in Punjab to vote for the Congress in the February 20 elections. Referring to Modi’s security breach in Punjab’s Ferozepur on January 5, Singh said “an attempt was made to defame chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the people of the state” in the name of the Prime Minister’s security.
“Similarly, we have also seen that during the peasant movement (farmers’ agitation against the now repealed agricultural laws), attempts were made to defame Punjab and Punjabiyat. What all have been said about Punjabis whose courage, valour, patriotism and sacrifice are saluted by the whole world. As a true Indian born out of the brave soil of Punjab, I am pained by the whole incident,” he added.
The BJP’s nationalism is “fake” and based on the British policy of “divide and rule”, Singh said.
