Congress Plenary 2018: Manmohan Singh says Modi government messed up economy, J&K situation

In a direct attack on the Modi government, the former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, said “BJP has messed up the economy”.

Speaking at the 84th Plenary Session of the Congress, Singh stated that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi made tall promises but failed to fulfill any of them. He said that Modi had promised to provide 2 crore of Jobs to youths but we have not seen even 2 lakh jobs.

Manmohan expressed his concern over demonetisation and GST. “Demonetisation and GST was ill thought and ill conceived, as it not only took away the jobs but also ruined the small sector industries.”

Quoting the Economic survey, Singh said, “Due to poor economy, the three sectors which face the maximum challenges are education, health and agriculture and this survey highlights the inadequacies of the BJP government. Taking a dig at the Jumla politics of this government, Singh quipped, “BJP said that farmers income will double in six years but seeing the state of economy it is unthinkable, which is another Jumla.”

Taking a note of the foreign policy pursued by this government, he said that there were problems with neighbours and it should be tackled and our relations with neighbours should improve. “India needs to create an environment that is neigbour friendly. Congress party worked in that direction. We have problems today but they need to be resolved peacefully. Hostile behavior will not help,” emphasised Singh, while going on to criticise Pakistan for promoting terrorism but said that India should convey in strong terms that terrorism is not acceptable.

“Singh said that the Modi government has mismanaged the J&K state and the atmosphere in the state is deteriorating every day.

Praising UPA president Sonia Gandhi, he said that under her guidance the UPA government enacted several rights issues such as RTE, RTI and Food Security. Due to her guidance the growth rate reached 7.8 percent in UPA government and she ensured that only growth is not important the growth should be inclusive and should ensure social justice.

He told the Congressmen that “The Congress party is the party which led the freedom struggle and guided India after it became free. The party is today invited to play a role in the development. I am confident that under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, we will play a historic role.”

Manmohan Singh’s address received a ovation.