Why blame Nehru for people’s problems instead of admitting mistakes, Manmohan Singh asks government
The Hindu
‘China occupying our pious land for one year but attempts made to bury issue,’ Dr. Manmohan Singh says
The Narendra Modi government cannot escape the responsibility for “mismanaging” the country by blaming the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday.
In his first video for Punjab voters ahead of the February 20 polls, Dr. Singh stated that one should be mindful of the dignity of the Prime Minister’s Office. All those who used to attack him as being silent and running a weak and corrupt government were now exposed.
Targeting the Centre on a host of issues, including the farmers’ agitation, price rise, unemployment and foreign policy, he accused the BJP of following a “fake nationalism” that followed the policy of divide and rule that was adopted by the British.
The video, in which Dr. Singh also raised the issue of the security breach of Prime Minister Modi’s convoy at Feorzepur last month, was played at a press conference in Chandigarh.
“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. During the farmers’ agitation too, an attempt was made to defame Punjab and Punjabiyat,” he said in his nearly 10-minute long message in Punjabi.
According to him, the government had proved to be a “complete failure” on the issue of foreign policy. He alleged that Chinese troops were “occupying our pious land for the last one year but efforts are being made to bury this issue”. The government did not have trust in the Constitution and “institutions are continuously being weakened”.
“On the one hand, people are facing problems of price rise and unemployment and on the other, the 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,” he said.
With the clock ticking down to the Lok Sabha election counting day on Tuesday, opposing fronts are perceptibly edgy and poised to continue the rancorous skirmishing that marked the campaign season in Kerala. The United Democratic Front, led by the Congress, is seemingly basking in the “interim victory” granted by various exit polls. The UDF discerns that its poll strategy of turning the polls foremostly into a damning referendum on the Left Democratic Front government’s perceived failures rather than BJP’s “divisive politics” at the national level stood a fighting chance of paying off.