Sonia hails Manmohan Singh for heading country 'when it was on edge'; takes veiled jibe at Modi

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Modi, she said: “"fanciful boasts, self-promoting bombast and the language of abuse and vitriol" was not the style of Manmohan Singh who presided over the country's highest economic growth rate in his tenure as Prime Minister.

Image: PTI

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday hailed former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and launched veiled attack at the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While lauding the former Prime Minister for his brilliant reforms and strategies Sonia said Manmohan Singh’s demeanour is such that it appears he was born wise. “In his decade long Prime Ministerial tenure, India recorded its highest economic growth rate ever. He became PM when country was on edge.Within months,his policies had a profound calming effect.” Manmohan Singh was conferred with the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development on Monday. On the occasion, the UPA chief said: “Over his tenure, he earned for India enhanced respect across the globe not by seeking credit or kudos, but by allowing his work to speak for itself.” Taking a dig at Prime Minister Modi, she said: “"fanciful boasts, self-promoting bombast and the language of abuse and vitriol" was not the style of Manmohan Singh who presided over the country's highest economic growth rate in his tenure as Prime Minister. "(Yet) Not for him tall claims. Not for him empty and fanciful boasts. Not for him self-promoting bombast. Not for him falsifications of facts and history. Not for him the language of abuse and vitriol," Gandhi said in her speech. She said that when Manmohanbecame the Prime Minister, the country was on the edge as its collective nerves were frayed and when its secular fabric was under assault, but within months, his persona and policies had a profound calming effect. "The country once again had the assurance that the man at the very top was not a divisive person, that no group or individual need feel insecure," she said. She said that the foundation of Singh’s success were laid in the Indira Gandhi years in the Ministries of Commerce and Finance, the Planning Commission and the Reserve Bank of India.