While Punjab votes on Sunday, political parties across the spectrum continue slandering each other. While Congress’s CM face Channi faces the heat for his “bhaiya” jibe, ex-PM and Congress strongman Manmohan Singh took on PM Modi and his government’s stance of “blaming Jawaharlal Nehru for every problem.”
Mr Singh, 89, maintained that the Congress never played communal politics nor did it conceal truth. “On the one hand, people are facing problems of inflation and unemployment, on the other, the present government, in power for the last seven and a half years, rather than admitting their mistakes and rectifying them, is still blaming first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for people’s problems,” Dr Singh said in a video message played out by the Congress.
“We never divided the country for vested political gain. We never tried to hide the truth. We never undermined the esteem of the country or PM’s position. People today are being divided. This government’s fake nationalism is hollow and dangerous. Their nationalism is based on the British policy of divide and rule. Constitutional institutions are being weakened,” the recording elaborated.
The two-time Prime Minister also accused the government of trying to suppress Chinese incursions at the Line of Actual Control. “They (BJP-led government) have no understanding of economic policy. The issue is not limited to the nation. This government has also failed on foreign policy. China is sitting at our border and efforts are being made to suppress it (incursions),” Dr Singh said.
“I hope the PM has understood that foreign policy cannot be conducted by forcibly hugging leaders, swinging on swings or feeding them biryani,” he added. Dr Singh accused the BJP-led government of “fake nationalist and divisive policies” and said its foreign policy has failed.
There is “selfishness and greed in the government’s economic policy”, said the former Prime Minister. “For their selfish interest they are dividing people and making them fight,” he said.
Dr Singh also referred to the security breach that left PM Modi’s convoy stuck on a flyover in Punjab for 20 minutes because of protesting farmers. “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. The world salutes the bravery, patriotism and sacrifice of Punjabis, but the NDA government did not talk about any of this. As a true Indian from Punjab, all these things deeply hurt me,” he said.
