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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh broke his silence in his first address to the media over the last 3 years. Here is a look at the highs and lows of the political career of Manmohan Singh.
Highs
- Manmohan Singh steered the Indo-US civil nuclear energy deal amidst stiff opposition from the Left parties even risking the UPA-I government.
- Showed his political astuteness in getting Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party on board in 2008.
- Rights based laws enacted - Right to Information, Right to Education, MNREGA Employment Guarantee scheme.
- Economic boom: India recorded over 9% GDP growth in first four years of UPA.
- UPA-II came to power with Manmohan Singh as Congress PM.
- Food bill and Lok Pal acts passed.
- FDI in multi-brand retail : despite Trinamool Congress walking out of coalition in 2012.
Lows
- Manmohan Singh's image declines as UPA-II embroiled in scam after scam - PM lambasted as 'silent' PM.
- Coal scam, 2G telecom scam, taking alongwith it several Union ministers.
- Rail minister Pawan Bansal and Law minister Ashwani Kumar, both considered close to Manmohan Singh, forced to resign undermining PM's clout in the Cabinet.
- Declining value of the rupee instills fear of economic collapse.
- Galloping food inflation and price rise and failure of the government to arrest it.
- Rahul Gandhi as Congress Vice President trashes Cabinet's ordinance on tainted netas as "nonsense", undermining PM's authority. Government retracts ordinance.
- Congress politically decimated in last four assembly polls largely attributed to UPA's poor performance.
- Calls for PM's resignation and Rahul Gandhi's appointment as PM candidate by Congress politicos.
