Ahead of Punjab polls, former PM targets Modi govt over host of issues, including farmer protest and price rise
AAP’s CM face Bhagwant Mann during a roadshow in Patiala. Pic/ANI
The BJP has been in power for more than seven years and is still blaming first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the problems of the people, former prime minister and Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh said on Thursday in a scathing attack against the Modi-led government.
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Targeting the Central government on a host of issues, including the farmers’ agitation, foreign policy, price rise and unemployment, the former prime minister said ahead of the Punjab elections on February 20 that the Congress had never divided the country for political gains or hidden the truth.
“On the one hand, people are facing problems of price rise and unemployment, on the other, 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,” Singh said in a video message in Punjabi.
Dr Manmohan Singh, former prime minister
“During the farmers’ agitation, too, an attempt was made to defame Punjab and Punjabiyat,” he said. On foreign policy, the former PM said, “I hope that by now the ruling dispensation would have realised that relations between countries do not improve by forcefully embracing leaders, playing on a swing with them or going uninvited to have biryani,”
The world salutes the bravery, patriotism and sacrifice of Punjabis, but the NDA government did not talk about any of this, Singh said. As the speech went viral, the Ministry of External Affairs said his criticism of the foreign policy was “purely a political message”.
‘Cong pits regions against one another’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hit out at Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi for his ‘UP, Bihar and Delhi de bhaiye’ remark, saying people with such “divisive thought” do not have the right to rule the state. He was addressing a rally at Abohar, ahead of the polls.
Scathing attack
Manmohan Singh, Former PM
‘A few days ago, in the name of the prime minister’s security, an attempt was made to defame Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the people of the state’
‘We never divided the country for political gains. We never tried to put curtains on the truth. Never let the country’s prestige or that of the post to be lowered’
‘Social inequality is increasing in the country, the debt on the people is constantly increasing, while the earnings are decreasing…but this government is portraying that everything is fine by manipulating figures’
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