Manmohan Singh takes a dig at PM Modi, says was not afraid of talking to press

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for never having held a press conference, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said "he was never afraid of speaking to the press".

"I was not the Prime Minister who was afraid of talking to the press. I met the press regularly, and on every foreign trip that I undertook, I had a press conference on my return; either on the flight or once I was back,” pointed out Singh.

Speaking at the launch of his book "Changing India", the former Prime Minister also asserted that India was destined to become a major economic global power.

"There are large number of those press conferences which have been described in the book," he said at the event.

"People say I was a silent Prime Minister, but these volumes will speak for themselves. I don't want to boast about my achievements as a Prime Minister, but the events that took place are well described in these volumes," he said.

Modi has not once faced the press ever since he became the Prime Minister in 2014.

Reminiscing about his past, Singh said, “I have been termed as an accident prime minister of the country, but I think that I was also an accidental finance minister.”

He was narrating the story of how he became the Finance Minister under PM Narasimha Rao’s government. Singh said that he was at that time heading the UGC and when PC Alexander came to him to tell him about the job, he was sleeping. “Also, I did not take him seriously. So, as usual, I went to the UGC office next day. It was only when PM Narasimha Rao called me to question why I hadn’t turned up. He asked me to get ready and come for the swearing-in and left me no choice,” quipped Singh.

Talking about future of the country, Manmohan Singh said despite all the hiccups, India was destined to become a major global powerhouse.

"The emergence of India as a major global power is one such idea whose time has come and no power on earth can stop such an idea," said Singh, quoting Victor Hugo, whom he had quoted as the then Finance Minister during his historic 1991 budget speech.

Asked if the farm loan waivers by the new Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were not bad economics, Singh said the commitments need to be fulfilled.

"Whatever it is, the commitments that have been made have to be honoured," he said speaking with media on the sidelines of the event.

Commenting on the ongoing RBI turmoil, the former Prime Minister hoped that the government would find a way to work in "harmony" with the RBI.

"We need a strong, independent RBI which has to work in close cooperation with the central government. I hope the RBI and the government would find ways to work in harmony," said Singh.

Earlier, he recalled how once on his advice, former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao bypassed the Cabinet decision to devalue the rupee.

"He (Rao) signed on a handwritten note which I have preserved to this day," he said, recalling many more anecdotes in his long journey within the Union government.