Narendra Modi first PM to lower dignity of public discourse: Manmohan Singh

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lashed out at his successor Narendra Modi and accused him of lowering the dignity of the Prime Minister’s office by making “hateful and unparliamentary” speeches meant to target a certain community or the Opposition.

Manmohan Singh made the remarks after PM Modi, at a rally in Rajasthan in April, alleged that the Congress, if voted to power, would distribute the country’s wealth to “those who have more children”. PM Modi also cited Manmohan Singh’s remarks that Muslims had the first claim on the country’s resources.

In a letter to the people of Punjab, where Lok Sabha polls are set to be held on June 1, Manmohan Singh alleged that PM Modi indulged in the “most vicious form of hate speeches that are purely divisive in nature”.

Hitting out at PM Modi’s promise to double farmers’ income by 2022, Manmohan Singh said his successor’s policies eroded the earnings of the farmers in the past 10 years.

“The national average monthly income of farmers is a meagre Rs 27 per day, while the average debt per farmer is Rs 27,000 (NSSO). High cost of input, including fuel and fertilisers, coupled with GST on at least 35 farm-related equipment and whimsical decision-making in farm export and import, has destroyed the savings of our farm households and left them on the margins of our society,” the former Prime Minister said.

“In the past 10 years, the nation’s economy has witnessed unimaginable turmoil. The imposition of the demonetisation disaster, a flawed GST, and the painful mismanagement during the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a miserable situation, where an expectation of a subpar 6-7 per cent GDP growth has become the new normal,” he said.

Manmohan Singh slammed the BJP-led Centre over the 2020-21 farmers’ protests and called out PM Modi for his past remarks on the farmers.

“As many as 750 farmers, mostly belonging to Punjab, died while incessantly waiting at Delhi’s borders, for months together. As if the lathis and the rubber bullets were not enough, none less than the Prime Minister verbally assaulted our farmers by calling them ‘andolanjeevis’ and ‘parjeevi’ (parasites) on the floor of Parliament,” he said.

“Their only demand was the withdrawal of the three farm laws imposed on them without consulting them. In the past ten years, the BJP government has left no stone unturned in castigating Punjab, Punjabis and Punjabiyat,” he further said.