Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday wrote to Punjab’s electorate seeking votes for the Congress, underscoring how Narendra Modi had lowered the dignity of public discourse with the “most vicious form of hate speech” and how his government had vilified the state during the farmers’ protest.
Describing Modi’s speeches as a “narrative of dehumanisation”, Singh appeared to appeal directly to Punjabiyat — represented by the large-heartedness of the people of Punjab.
“It is now our duty to save our beloved nation from these forces of discord,” he wrote in the letter, shared on X by the Congress general secretary in charge of the media, Jairam Ramesh.
Singh added: “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.”
Singh, a man of few words often mocked by Modi for his quiet demeanour, has rarely been so scathing about his successor, even considering he had once said that Modi becoming Prime Minister would be a disaster for India.
Replying to a question at his last news conference as Prime Minister in January 2014, Singh had said: “I do believe that having Mr Modi, whatever his merit, as the Prime Minister will be a disaster for India.”
He had added that history would be kinder to him than the media, which was at
the time critical of him for presiding over an adrift UPA government.
In the letter, Singh accused Modi of attributing false statements to him, making an oblique allusion to the Prime Minister’s charge that his predecessor had said that Muslims had the first right to the nation’s resources.
“I have never in my life singled out one community from the other. That is the sole copyright of the BJP,” Singh said.
This was the first time Singh has spoken on the subject since Modi made it an election issue, although the Congress has repeatedly clarified that Singh’s comment has been quoted out of context.
In his appeal to Punjab’s voters, Singh said: “In the past ten years, the BJP government has left no stone unturned in castigating Punjab, Punjabis and Punjabiyat. 750 farmers, mostly belonging to Punjab, were martyred while incessantly waiting at Delhi 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 ‘parjeevis’ (parasites) on the floor of the Parliament.”
Singh highlighted the Congress manifesto’s promises of legally guaranteed minimum support prices (MSPs) for farmers’ crops, a stable export-import policy for agriculture, a permanent commission on agricultural finance for loan waivers, direct transfer of insurance compensation to farmers within 30 days for crop losses, and the removal of the GST on farm input products and equipment.
He also dwelt on the BJP government’s failure to deliver on its assurances, particularly its promise to double farmers’ income.
The former Prime Minister also castigated the government over the Agnipath scheme of four-year recruitment to the military, possibly keeping in mind the large number of youths from Punjab who join the armed forces.
Describing it as an “ill-conceived” scheme, he said “it shows their fake nationalism” and underlined the Congress promise to abolish the scheme if it came to power.
Ramesh said the letter was a must-read and “harkens back to a time when the polity of the country was dignified and statesman-like”.
