Sad state of affairs in the wonderland of Modi govt: Manmohan Singh

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said the Narendra Modi government in its four-year tenure had undone the good work on social and economic policies of the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments, and bemoaned the intemperate use of language by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his election speeches.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Singh said it didn’t behove the Prime Minister of the country to “stoop so low” in using the kind of language he has, against political rivals, while campaigning for the Karnataka assembly election.

During the Gujarat election campaign in December, Modi had accused his predecessor of conspiring with Pakistan to defeat the BJP. The Modi government had later apologised for the PM’s remarks in Parliament.

The former prime minister spoke at length on the issue of public sector banks writing off loans of corporates. Singh said the proportion of gross Non Performing Assets (NPAs) have trebled since the UPA demitted office in 2014. The quantum of frauds in the banking sector has almost quadrupled from Rs 284 billion in September 2013 to Rs 1.11 trillion in September 2017, he said.

Singh said the data paints a “telling picture” of what the truth is on the issue of NPAs. He said jeweller Nirav Modi escaped a few days after being photographed with the PM in Davos, and this even as it was obvious from 2016 onwards that something was amiss and yet the Modi government didn’t do anything. “That itself is a reflection of the sad state of affairs in this wonderland of Modi government,” Singh quipped.

The former prime minister said international crude prices had declined by 67 per cent after the Modi government took over the reins of the union government. However, petrol and diesel prices have increased 110 per cent on an average.

“Through constant increase in taxes and at the cost of the common man, the BJP government is projected to have earned over Rs 10 trillion. India must demand answers as to what use this money was put to,” the former prime minister asked.

Singh also punched holes in the Modi government’s claims of pursuing ‘vikas’, or development. He said presently banks are neither lending nor is the private sector borrowing to make new investments. “The growth engines of the economy are spluttering. Perhaps, it is here that the mismanagement of the Modi government is most evident,” Singh said.

He said the economic mismanagement of the Modi government is slowly eroding the trust of the general public in the banking system. Singh said the Modi government didn’t take any prompt corrective action to resolve the recent shortage of cash in many states, but instead peddled “conspiracy theories as to what led to the problem”.

The former prime minister said while agricultural loans that have gone bad due to heightened rural distress are not being waived, corporate write-offs by public sectors banks in the last three years are now to the tune of over Rs 2.41 trillion.

The former prime minister said the Modi government’s objective to double farmers’ incomes by 2022 “comes across as wishful thinking”. He said under UPA II, the average annual MSP (minimum support price) growth rate was 19.3 per cent, which has fallen to 3.6 per cent during the NDA's rule.

Singh said the agriculture GDP growth rate under NDA is half of what was achieved under UPA; agricultural exports have come down and agricultural imports have risen by over 60 per cent.

Singh said Modi had promised 20 million jobs a year but, instead, has destroyed 7.2 million jobs in the age group of 15-24 over the last four years.

He said India’s position as an IT superpower is at risk. “The situation could get worse if the Modi government fails in its duty of protecting H1, H4 and L1 visas for our professionals which are under threat in the United States,” he said.

Singh said PM Modi should practice what he preached during the former prime minister's rein – to speak more on issues. Unfortunately, Modi hasn’t held a single press conference yet, Singh contended.

Singh said tax raids have become a daily routine with the Modi government and that too without any rhyme or reason. He said this was an important factor affecting the investment climate of the country.

On whether the independence of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an institution has eroded, the former prime minister said he had great respect for the office of the RBI governor. Singh said he also had great respect for the present governor of the RBI.

Unfortunately, RBI's inability to count returned notes in time is being talked about, something that has never happened before, Singh said. The former prime minister said he sincerely hoped the RBI management would come up with credible answers.