Echoing the late ex-PM Manmohan Singh’s phrases about himself, that historical past will keep in mind him kindly, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi stated on Tuesday that he was a quiet however “most consequential” prime minister that India has had.
The Congress Parliamentary Celebration chairperson’s remarks in an article printed in The Indian Specific got here days after the Supreme Courtroom gave Manmohan Singh the clear chit within the coal block allocation case, one of many many corruption circumstances of the Congress-led UPA period earlier than Narendra Modi and the BJP ascended to energy in 2014.
“The date July 29, 2026, was an vital however unacknowledged day in our latest political historical past as in a outstanding judgment, the Supreme Courtroom upheld the CBI’s clear chit to Dr Manmohan Singh within the alleged coal block allocation rip-off,” Gandhi famous.
She stated the judgment brings to a conclusion probably the most tragic arcs of our public discourse — “the witch-hunt in opposition to Dr Singh, a person of probably the most outstanding probity and integrity”.
Swipes at Modi
On Modi, Sonia Gandhi stated that Manmohan Singh’s prophetic prediction of January 2014 was now changing into more and more self-evident, in an obvious reference to his then assertion that it could be “disastrous for the nation” to have Modi as PM.
In a extra quick swipe at Modi, Sonia Gandhi additional referred to his video through which he stated he was “forgiving” college students who’d used abusive phrases in opposition to him in the course of the latest protests led by the Cockroach Janta Celebration that pressured a change of training minister. Sonia Gandhi stated that since Modi was today forgiving India’s college students for attacking him, maybe he would take this chance to forgive himself for his slander in opposition to Manmohan Singh.
It was not a coincidence that Modi was additionally among the many most vocal proponents of the assault on Manmohan Singh, she stated. “His snide and atrocious remarks within the Rajya Sabha on February 8, 2017, that solely Dr Singh knew ‘the artwork of bathing with a raincoat on’, will go down because the lowest level of our parliamentary historical past,” she stated.
“The foyer in opposition to [Manmohan Singh] was coordinated and well-organised, with actors stretching from the forms to the media, the judiciary, civil society, and most definitely to the RSS and BJP… Right this moment, their bogus campaign has come to its inevitable conclusion of nothingness. Dr Singh has been vindicated on each depend,” Gandhi stated in her article.
On the SC clear shit, she that, extra importantly, the highest courtroom pulled up the trial courtroom for rejecting the CBI’s closure reviews and making antagonistic observations in opposition to the previous prime minister for “no compelling cause”.
‘Stark distinction’
Manmohan Singh’s report of integrity and accountability stands in stark distinction to how the Modi authorities has operated, so clearly and grossly misusing companies designed to analyze crime and corruption just like the ED and the CBI, she stated.
“Leaders are both silenced via coercion or cynically folded into the BJP or, in some outstanding situations, rewarded with ministerial positions as nicely… When credible accusations of corruption emerge, the Modi authorities merely brushes them apart. Corrupt whenever you’re within the Opposition, instantly clear whenever you soar ship!” Sonia Gandhi wrote.
“Introspection, like charity, should start from dwelling. In the end, the assault on Dr Singh was motivated by a determined need to shift the general public dialog and narrative away from his excellent governance report,” she additional stated.
Manmohan Singh’s authorities heralded profound financial change with unprecedented charges of development and a consumption and personal funding increase that propelled India into the ranks of middle-income international locations, Gandhi pressured.
In 2008, when the worldwide financial system confronted turbulence and collapse, India demonstrated its resilience, she stated. “Allow us to not neglect that despite the transforming of how the expansion of India’s GDP is calculated, the ten years of the UPA authorities noticed increased financial development than the previous 12 years, leading to tens of millions being pulled out of poverty,” Gandhi stated.
UPA’s work ‘being sought to be amended’
The Manmohan Singh authorities delivered on the constitutional promise of a Proper to Training and expanded social justice via the introduction of OBC reservation in centrally-funded increased training institutes just like the IITs and IIMs, she stated. “The Forest Rights Act recognised the ancestral rights of our Adivasi and forest-dwelling communities, after a decades-long battle. The MGNREGA, lately demolished by the Modi authorities, was probably the most highly effective social safety intervention arrange anyplace,” she stated.
One other signature achievement of Singh’s authorities was the Nationwide Meals Safety Act, 2013, which recognized and assured entry to fundamental meals rations for crores of households, she stated. “That is being sought to be amended. Quickly after he demitted workplace, he had warned that the rights-based laws would come below assault and his fears have, most sadly, come true,” she stated.
Singh heralded a brand new period of transparency in authorities via the landmark Proper to Info Act, which enabled residents to entry the federal government’s internal workings, she stated.
“The RTI now stands completely emasculated. There was an explosion of unbiased media, which was characterised by a fearlessness that seems extra outstanding when juxtaposed with its present enfeeblement,” she stated.
Civil society emerged as a power to be reckoned with, and our college students had the liberty to protest in opposition to the federal government and even the prime minister, with out being fired upon by metallic pellet weapons or AK-47s, Gandhi stated, taking a swipe on the Modi authorities.
The prime minister commonly made himself accountable to Parliament and to the media via 100-plus unscripted press conferences, she stated.
“And naturally, we can not neglect that the landmark and path-breaking Indo-US nuclear deal, which overturned many years of nuclear discrimination in opposition to and denial in the direction of India and marked our arrival on the worldwide stage, was potential due to his political braveness and sustained initiative,” she stated.
The “mischievous and indefensible” allegations in opposition to his integrity have been uncovered as hole, and his report as prime minister is more and more being recognised for what it was — a interval of decisive financial, political, and social development in Indian historical past, she stated.
“All of us definitely remorse that he’s not right here to see at the present time and to information the nation along with his knowledge. However it’s a solace to us all that his prophetic prediction of January 2014 is changing into more and more self-evident with each passing day… Historical past will certainly keep in mind him kindly as a quiet, light however a most consequential prime minister,” Gandhi stated.
Her remarks come after the apex courtroom closed the felony case in opposition to Singh by setting apart a summoning order handed in opposition to him. The veteran Congress chief, who handed away on December 27, 2024, now stands formally acquitted within the high-profile felony case.
