Manmohan blasts PM Modi for 'hateful speeches', accuses him of ruining economy

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday (May 30) accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ruining India’s economy and lowering the dignity of public discourse by unleashing “hateful speeches” during the Lok Sabha election campaign.

In an open appeal to the voters of Punjab ahead of the seventh and final phase of voting on June 1, the Congress leader also charged Modi with lowering the gravity of the office of the prime minister.

'Modi lowered gravity of PMO'

In a stinging attack on Modi, Singh said: "Modiji has indulged in the most vicious form of hate speeches, which are purely divisive in nature.

“Modiji is the first prime minister to lower the dignity of public discourse, and thereby the gravity of the office of the prime minister. No prime minister in the past has uttered such hateful, unparliamentary and coarse terms, meant to target either a specific section of the society or the opposition," Singh said. 

"He has also attributed some false statements to me. I have never in my life singled out one community from the other. That is the sole copyright of the BJP," the Congress leader said.

Singh also hit out at the Modi government for imposing what he said was an "ill-conceived" Agniveer scheme on the armed forces and for showing disdain towards protesting farmers, mainly from Punjab.

"The BJP thinks that the value of patriotism, bravery and service is only four years. This shows their fake nationalism," he said. 

Farmers’ plight

Singh also called out 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 10 years, the BJP government has left no stone unturned in castigating Punjab, Punjabis and Punjabiyat," he said.

Hitting out at Modi's promise to double farmers' income by 2022, Singh said the reality is that his successor's policies had eroded the earnings of the farmers since 2014.

"The national average monthly income of farmers is a meagre ₹27 per day while the average debt per farmer is ₹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," he said.

'Economic disasters'

"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 added.

Singh said the people were seeing through all of this.

"This narrative of dehumanisation has now reached its peak. It is now our duty to save our beloved nation from these forces of discord," he said.

Only the Congress, he said, can ensure a growth-oriented progressive future where democracy and Constitution would be safeguarded.