Gently but firmly, Singh hits out at his own party and BJP

Says as an organised political party, we cannot underestimate the power of the opposition to unsettle the ship of the state

Amid the gloom in the Congress following the exit polls for five state Assembly elections predicting the party would be trounced, PM Manmohan Singh on Friday tried to retrieve lost ground by emphasising all that the government had done in the last nine years and asking his party not to be demoralised by the exit polls.

Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Singh said the Opposition needed to be engaged. “As an organised political party, we cannot underestimate the power of the Opposition to unsettle the ship of the state,” he said during an interactive session on the challenges posed by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. “Therefore, I am one of those who take our opponents very seriously. There is no room for complacency.”

Singh’s comment was a contrast to the Congress's stand on Modi. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh was sharply and publicly reprimanded by party general-secretary Janardhan Dwivedi when the former described Narendra Modi as a “challenge”.

The prime minister’s remark suggested the party and the government were yet to align their positions on Modi. Given the murmur in the party that the government's failure to control prices and address other economic challenges led to poor exit poll results for the party, the prime minister hit out, albeit obliquely, at his critics both within and outside the party.

Striking a ‘don’t-judge-us-too-harshly’ note, Singh uncharacteristically spoke as “I” while addressing many of the challenges India had to face in the past.

He recalled the travails of India during the early 90s, when he was finance minister. “As a generation, we have experienced a transformation in our own lives which, in our youth, we never imagined was possible. There are millions of Indians like me who have spent their childhoods in a milieu of little hope, and have then lived a lifetime of sweeping transformation,” he said, adding this transformation had led to growth, social change and political empowerment that made young people impatient for a better quality of life.

“A revolution of rising expectations is underway, and I welcome it,” he said.

He cited India’s rejection of cynicism on democracy, evidenced by the increase in voting percentages and the new deal for the urban and rural poor that enabled their inclusion. “Any sudden acceleration of growth, as we saw in the 2004-08 period, creates imbalances that can contribute to inflation. Such growth can also create opportunities for personal enrichment and that distorts governance and creates social resentment,” he said, talking to his own party, through the audience.

On terrorism, he said attacks might have risen, but these hadn’t led to spiralling of violence, which was a sign of maturity.

Singh blamed red tape for the lack of political consensus on reform. “In the past few months, Indian business leaders have been worried. I understand their anxieties about our red tape, our tax laws and administration, our regulations and procedures. I have often found it tough to deal with these challenges because of a lack of political consensus on the reforms we need to bring in. Yet, I must say despite all these problems, Indian business and enterprise has demonstrated its ability to cope with competition.”

Urging the audience to focus on the big picture, he said, “The world wants India to do well.”