In his visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s homeland Gujarat on Thursday, 6 December, former PM Manmohan Singh claimed the the PM has let down his own people and broken their trust by implementing policies like demonetisation and GST.
The biggest impact of demonetisation, he said, was seen in the loss of jobs in the small and medium industries where a large population of the country was employed.
Calling demonetisation a “half-baked” and and “uninformed attack” on black money, Singh said that old jobs were lost and new jobs, that the PM promised, were never created.
Demonetisation was an uninformed and half-baked attack on black money. It was a disastrous decision for our economy and democracy. The government likes to claim that demonetisation was a bold decision. There is a difference between a bold decision and a disastrous decision.Manmohan Singh
He went on to say that the implementation of GST was “poorly” done with a focus on headlines and drama, without considering the recommendations by the Congress. The GDP level dropped by 5.7 percent in the first quarter of 2017-18, which he claimed, was just one of the many indicators of a poor economy.
The GDP growth rate dropped to 5.7 percent in the first quarter of 2017-18. To equal the UPA’s 10-year average growth, the economy will have to grow at 10.6 percent in the fifth year of the Modi government. I would be happy if this were to happen but frankly, I do not think it will.Manmohan Singh
He claimed that Gujarat was at its lowest this year because of the poor work done in the last 22 years and that the state ranked lower than the best states on various social indicators.
Gujarat has regressed in the last 22 years on every social indication, from infant mortality rate to maternal mortality rate, and female literacy. Gujarat has fallen behind the best performing states in India including Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.Manmohan Singh
Talking about the internal corruption within the BJP government, Singh claimed that the BJP must follow the previous UPA government when it comes to taking action against their own leaders.
He even alleged that the PM doesn’t care about foreign policies and has often taken steps that are not in the best interest of our country.
Inconsistency in policies with regard to Kashmir has hurt our national security. The Modi government has taken steps which are not necessarily in the best interest of our country.Manmohan Singh
Video Editor: Vivek Gupta
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