As the Lok Sabha elections entered its last leg, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took a veiled dig at PM 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.
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”.
“I have been watching the political discussion very carefully during this election campaign. Modiji has engaged in vile hate speeches, which are downright divisive. Modi ji is the first Prime Minister who has reduced the dignity of office, and with it the seriousness of the Prime Minister’s office. No previous Prime Minister used such vile, unparliamentary and low-level language to target a particular section or opposition. They have also given me some wrong statements. I have never in my life distinguished one community from another. This is the special right and habit of BJP,” he wrote in the letter, Indian Express reported.
Manmohan Singh’s letter comes weeks after PM Modi had accused the former of having said that Muslims have the first right to wealth.
While campaigning in Rajasthan, PM Modi had said, “Congress’s manifesto says they will take stock of the gold mothers and daughters have, and will distribute that wealth. Manmohan Singh’s government had said Muslims have the first right to wealth. Brothers and sisters, this Urban Naxal thinking will not spare even the mangal sutras of my mothers and sisters.”
Appealing for peace and harmony, the former PM added: “I appeal to every voter of Punjab to vote for development and coordinated progress. I urge all young people to vote carefully, and to vote for the future. Only Congress can guarantee a development-led progressive future, where democracy and the Constitution will be protected.”
In the letter on Thursday, the former PM went on to hit out at the BJP over the country’s economy. “In the last ten years, the country’s economy has seen tremendous upheaval. The scourge of demonetisation, mismanaged GST and poor management during the Covid-19 pandemic have created dire conditions. Below average 6-7 percent GDP growth has become normal. Annual GDP growth under the BJP government has dropped to less than 6 percent, while it was around 8 percent during the Congress-UPA,” he said.
He added, “While the Congress-UPA, despite the challenges, continued to increase the purchasing power of our people, the mismanagement of the BJP government has reduced household savings to a historic low of 47 years.”
Manmohan Singh slammed the BJP-led Centre over the 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.
Punjab is all set to cast its vote on June 1. The state is witnessing a four-cornered contest with major parties – AAP, Congress, BJP and SAD contesting on their own. All 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be voting during the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
