Was 'harsh' in calling Narendra Modi 'disaster for country' in 2014, says Manmohan Singh

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday attacked the ruling NDA government on a range of issues but said he was "harsh" in calling the then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi "a disaster for the country" in 2014 and that he doesn't want to repeat it.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday attacked the ruling NDA government on a range of issues but said he was "harsh" in calling the then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi "a disaster for the country" in 2014 and that he doesn't want to repeat it. Photo: AFP

INDORE: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday attacked the ruling NDA government on a range of issues but said he was "harsh" in calling the then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi "a disaster for the country" in 2014 and that he doesn't want to repeat it. In his last press conference as country's premier, Manmohan Singh, in January 2014, said Narendra Modi will prove to be "disastrous" for India if he were to become the prime minister. "Without discussing the merits of Narendra Modi, I sincerely believe that it will be disastrous for the country to have Modi as the PM," Manmohan Singh had said. When asked if the Modi government proved to be a "disaster" for the country as he predicted, Singh, while addressing the media here, said he used a harsh word for Modi as prime minister in 2014. "I now recognize that I used a harsh word in 2014 which I should not have used. I don't want to repeat it. But I think the time is not far off when the public at large would have a chance to pronounce itself on the efficacy or otherwise of the policies which have been put in place by the Modi government," the Congress veteran said. "Beyond that, I wouldn't like to comment on what I had said in 2014," he said. Singh, however, slammed the Modi government saying the credibility of institutions like Parliament and CBI has been systematically denigrated in the Narendra Modi-led regime, which he said is making "careful, well-thought-out calibrated effort" to weaken democracy. "The country has witnessed credibility of institutions like Parliament and CBI systematically denigrated. There is a careful well-thought-out calibrated effort to weaken democracy," he said. "The rule of law is under attack. history shall never forgive our present generation if the situation is not changed," he said. Singh also accused Modi of misusing the Prime Minister's post. "It does not befit the PM to abuse political opponents," he said. He termed demonetisation as "organised loot and legalised plunder". "It (demonetisation) is a done act and can't be reverted. It is up to the people to get rid of the government which brought them on this disastrous path," he said.