New Delhi: In 2014, as Manmohan Singh prepared to leave office after serving two consecutive terms as prime minister, after a bruising poll campaign that saw him being targeted with debasing political rhetoric, he decided to address the nation.
Singh could have used the occasion to pay his detractors back in kind, even if in his characteristic understated style. However, far from exhibiting any rancour, the economist-politician’s speech was a study in the finest traditions of democracy.
“Today, as I prepare to lay down office, I am aware that well before the final judgement that we all await from the almighty, there is judgment in the court of public opinion that all elected officials and governments are required to submit themselves to. Fellow citizens, each one of us should respect the judgement that you have delivered. The just concluded elections have deepened the foundations of our democratic polity,” Singh said.
A few days after taking charge as prime minister, Narendra Modi, who had repeatedly taunted his predecessor as “Maun (silent) Mohan Singh” during the election campaign, appeared to reciprocate the gesture by visiting Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur at their new official residence on New Delhi’s Motilal Nehru Marg.
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However, with time, Singh gradually emerged as one of the most sharp critics of the Modi regime. He did not make too many interventions, but the few times he did speak up, he packed quite a punch. The first of these came in May 2015, at an event of the Congress’s students’ wing National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).
On the same day, Modi invited Singh to the PM’s official residence to discuss economy and foreign policy issues. Modi warmly welcomed Singh and also posted pictures of the meeting.
In June 2015, Singh again attacked Modi at a meeting of the chief ministers of Congress-ruled states.
“I have to acknowledge that my successor has been a more adept salesman, event manager and communicator than me,” Singh said.
A few months later, at the concluding ceremony of the 125th birth anniversary of India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, in November, Singh was more direct.
“Humare pradhan mantri vikas ki baat karte hain. Jahan jaate hain vikas ke naam par apni dukandaari chamkaane ki baat karte hain (Our prime minister talks of development. Wherever he goes, he tries to promote himself in the name of development),” Singh said in his speech at the event.
It’s not as though Singh never hit back at Modi while he was still PM. In his last press conference as PM, responding to a question on the BJP’s charge of him being a weak prime minister, Singh said, “I do not believe that I have been a weak prime minister. That is for historians to judge. The BJP and its associates may say whatever they like, but if by strong prime minister you mean you preside over mass massacre of innocent citizens on the streets of Ahmedabad, if that is the measure of strength, I do not believe that sort of strength this country needs, least of all in its prime minister.”
Also read: Manmohan Singh, an ‘underestimated’ politician for his Congress detractors
Modi’s 1st term as PM ‘most traumatic and devastating’
After getting unseated as PM, Singh remained a member of the Rajya Sabha, which he first entered in June 1991, a month before he delivered the historic speech as the finance minister that ushered in reforms that liberalised the Indian economy.
It was in the Rajya Sabha in November 2016, days after the Modi government’s demonetisation move, where Singh made a fierce attack on his successor, saying there cannot be two opinions on the fact that in the process of note ban, “monumental mismanagement has been undertaken”.
Singh’s prediction, made in the speech, that note ban can cause a drop of 2 percent in GDP later turned out to be correct.
“I would further like to point out that in my opinion, the way that the scheme has been implemented will hurt agricultural growth in our country, will hurt small industry, will hurt all those people who are in the informal sector of the economy. And my own feeling is that the national income, that is the GDP, can decline by about 2 percent as a result of what has been done. So, in all, these measures convince me that the way this scheme has been implemented is a monumental management failure, and in fact, it is a case of organised loot, legalised plunder of the common people,” the former PM said.
Around the same time, writing in The Hindu, Singh said while counterfeit currency and black money are as grave a threat to the idea of India as terrorism and social division, “the popular saying ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ serves is a useful reminder and warning”, in the context of demonetisation.
Months later, in February 2017, Modi speaking on corruption during the Congress era, left the Congress seething after he attacked Singh in the Upper House, saying “The art of taking bath while wearing a raincoat in the bathroom can be learnt from Dr Manmohan Singh”.
In December 2017, Modi, delivering a speech during the Gujarat assembly polls campaign, suggested that Singh was involved in a “conspiracy” with Pakistan to foist a Muslim as the chief minister of Gujarat. The PM was referring to a dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar that was attended by Singh, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, former army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, and former Vice-President Hamid Ansari, among others.
Singh responded by issuing a statement in which he demanded an apology from Modi, saying he was deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none other than the prime minister.
“Sadly & regrettably, Sh. Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister and army chief,” the statement added.
In 2019, during the Lok Sabha elections, Singh gave an interview to PTI in which he called Modi’s first term as PM “most traumatic and devastating” for Indians.
With the passage of time, Singh stopped making public appearances, or political interventions, due to his failing health. However, when the situation demanded, Singh marked his attendance in the Rajya Sabha, even in a wheelchair. In February this year, as Singh retired from the Upper House, Modi heaped praises on the Congress stalwart, calling him an “inspirational example”.
Singh’s last public statement, which came this May during the Lok Sabha polls, was particularly stinging against the Modi government though. In an open letter to the people of Punjab, Singh said the last phase of voting offered one final chance to ensure that democracy and our constitution are protected from the “repeated assaults of a despotic regime, trying to unleash dictatorship in India”.
“I have been keenly following the political discourse during this election campaign. Modi ji has indulged in the most vicious form of hate speeches, which are purely divisive in nature. Modi ji 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. 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,” he said.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
