Growing inequality can be a potential threat to economy: Manmohan Singh

The former PM also said atrocities against minorities and Dalits were increasing in the country, and called for rejection of 'divisive policies and politics'

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said growing inequality in India could pose a "grave danger" to both the country’s democracy as also to sustained growth.

Delivering the first SB Rangnekar Memorial lecture at the Panjab University, his alma mater, in Chandigarh, the former PM said that India “must preserve strategic autonomy in decision making processes and resist the temptation of rich rewards gained by becoming a tool in the great games of big powers in the pursuit of their imperial ambitions.”

Singh said economic growth remained a high priority for India, but bemoaned the “weakening” of the accompanying