Corruption peaking under PM Modi, alleges Manmohan Singh

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 21

In a rare public attack on the ruling BJP, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today accused his successor Narendra Modi of presiding over a corrupt government, saying graft had peaked in the last four and a half years.

Demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Rafale deal, Singh said the BJP government had indulged in “lipa poti” of UPA schemes and dealt a blow to the economy with “ill-conceived decisions of demonetisation and a flawed GST coupled with tax terrorism”.

Singh, a Congress star campaigner for all election-bound states, was addressing the press in Indore as part of election canvassing in Madhya Pradesh which goes to the polls on November 28.

“This government came to power on the promise to usher transparency and fight corruption. A few months are left for its term to end but we have only witnessed corruption peaking under Modi. The acts of omission and commission in Rafale deal need thorough investigation by a JPC. PM Modi is not going for the JPC which gives an impression something is amiss. This is raising suspicion in the minds of the people,” said Singh, who took 22 questions from local journalists answering queries, including the charge that he ran a remote-control government.

“That’s wrong. The success of my government was because the party and government were on one page. There was no difference of opinion,” said Singh, defending the record of UPA against graft.

Asked why the Congress was reduced to few states if the UPA performed so well, Singh argued: “The reason was the ability of the Opposition to mislead the media and the general public about the so-called corruption and we were not able to carry the conviction to convey our point of view.”

The former PM said he had no hesitation in saying that the Modi government had “failed on every front”. He asked people to “get rid of BJP government”. On whether he wanted to challenge PM Modi on anything, Singh said: “I need not challenge him. That task will be accomplished by people in the upcoming elections.”

In a statement earlier today, Singh renewed his attacks on demonetisation and GST, describing the former as a “deliberate and designed attack on the savings of small and medium businesses, farmers and housewives”. He said while ills of note ban could not be undone, the Congress, if elected in 2019, will simplify GST.

The ex-PM charged the BJP dispensation with destroying the credibility of institutions (in veiled references to CBI, EC and RBI) and said he was happy at the reconciliation between the government and the RBI.