E-Paper
‘Political stunt: Amarinder Singh on BJP pitch for ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’
In a statement issued on Sunday, Amarinder Singh described the BJP’s attempt to use the movie, “which seeks to project Manmohan Singh as a weak and docile prime minister, as not only childish but brazenly politically motivated”.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempts to promote “The Accidental Prime Minister”, based on a book about Manmohan Singh’s tenure as prime minister, just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections “showed their desperation”.
In a statement issued on Sunday, he described the BJP’s attempt to use the movie, “which seeks to project Manmohan Singh as a weak and docile prime minister, as not only childish but brazenly politically motivated”.
“The use of the movie’s recently released trailer by the BJP, which was tweeted from the party’s official twitter handle and promoted by many of its leaders on the social media, to criticize Dr Singh at this important political juncture in India’s journey clearly showed their desperation and frustration in the face of their imminent defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
Hitting out at the BJP for resorting to cheap politics to strengthen their electoral chances, Amarinder Singh asked them to “accept the harsh reality that they had lost the support of the people, which they could not earn back by indulging in such petty political tactics”
He said he had met Manmohan Singh on several occasions while he was prime minister and found “the great economist to be an independent thinker and decision maker. Amarinder Singh also said he was “personally witness to the total independence Dr. Manmohan Singh had received from then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who did not believe in interfering in government matters”.
The Congress has downplayed the furore surrounding the film but lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, whose official Twitter handle promptly tweeted the trailer which was released on Thursday.
