Days after the Supreme Court gave former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a clear chit within the coal block allocation case, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday (August 11, 2026) stated his report of integrity and accountability stood in stark distinction to the best way the Narendra Modi authorities has operated. She stated historical past would certainly bear in mind Singh kindly as a quiet, light, however most consequential Prime Minister.
Additionally learn | Supreme Court closes coal block allocation case against former PM Manmohan Singh
In a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ms. Gandhi stated since he’s lately “forgiving” India’s college students for attacking him, maybe he can take this chance to forgive himself for his undignified slander towards Singh.
The Congress Parliamentary Social gathering chairperson stated the judgment brings to a conclusion one of the vital tragic arcs of our public discourse — “the witch-hunt towards Dr. Singh, a person of essentially the most outstanding probity and integrity.”
“The foyer towards him was coordinated and well-organised, with actors stretching from the forms to the media, the judiciary, civil society, and most actually to the RSS and BJP. Immediately, their bogus campaign has come to its inevitable conclusion of nothingness. Dr. Singh has been vindicated on each depend,” Ms. Gandhi stated in her article printed in a nationwide day by day.
“The date July 29, 2026, was an essential 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,” Ms. Gandhi stated.
“Extra importantly, it pulled up the trial courtroom for rejecting the CBI’s closure experiences and making antagonistic observations towards the previous prime minister for no ‘compelling purpose’,” she identified.
Singh’s report of integrity and accountability stands in stark distinction to how the Narendra 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.
“Its objective has been to exert stress on politicians. Leaders are both silenced via coercion or cynically folded into the BJP or, in some outstanding situations, rewarded with ministerial positions as effectively.
“When credible accusations of corruption emerge, the Modi authorities merely brushes them apart. Corrupt while you’re within the Opposition, abruptly clear while you bounce ship!” Ms. Gandhi stated.
It’s not a coincidence that Modi was additionally among the many most vocal proponents of the assault on 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.
Since Mr. Modi is lately “forgiving” India’s college students for attacking him, maybe he can take this chance to forgive himself for his “undignified slander” towards Singh, she stated.
“Introspection, like charity, should start from residence. Finally, the assault on Dr. Singh was motivated by a determined want to shift the general public dialog and narrative away from his excellent governance report,” she stated.
Additionally learn | Former PM Manmohan Singh writing for The Hindu
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 careworn.
In 2008, when the worldwide financial system confronted turbulence and collapse, India demonstrated its resilience, she stated.
“Allow us to not overlook that regardless of the transforming of how the expansion of India’s GDP is calculated, the ten years of the UPA authorities noticed larger financial development than the previous 12 years, leading to tens of millions being pulled out of poverty,” Ms. Gandhi stated.
The Manmohan Singh authorities delivered on the constitutional promise of a Proper to Schooling and expanded social justice via the introduction of OBC reservation in centrally-funded larger schooling 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 essentially the most highly effective social safety intervention arrange wherever,” 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.
Civil society emerged as a power to be reckoned with, and our college students had the liberty to protest towards the federal government and even the Prime Minister, with out being fired upon by metallic pellet weapons or AK-47s, Ms. Gandhi stated, taking a swipe on the Modi authorities.
The Prime Minister frequently made himself accountable to Parliament and to the media via 100-plus unscripted press conferences, she stated.
“And naturally, we can’t overlook that the landmark and path-breaking Indo-U.S.. nuclear deal, which overturned many years of nuclear discrimination towards 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 towards 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 actually 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 bear in mind him kindly as a quiet, light however a most consequential Prime Minister,” Ms. Gandhi stated.
Her remarks come after the Supreme Courtroom closed the legal case towards Singh by setting apart a summoning order handed towards him. The veteran Congress chief, who handed away on December 27, 2024, now stands formally acquitted within the high-profile legal case.
