Ahead of the assembly polls in Punjab and the remaining phase of Uttar Pradesh polls, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has issued a video statement in which he said that he was called 'Maun Mohan' then but now the country remembers the good work done by him. He appealed to the voters of Punjab, UP and Manipur to vote for the Congress.
Manmohan Singh said, "I am satisfied that I was called 'Maun Mohan', and false allegation of corruption was levelled against the government but the nation remembers my good work and the BJP has been exposed.” He alleged that due to the wrong policy of the government, people are suffering from inflation, unemployment and in the past 7.5 years, the government is not accepting its failures but blaming the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
The former Prime Minister is recovering from post-COVID complications and could not address any rally or press conference in Punjab. He said that there is a gracefulness of the Prime Ministerial post and blaming history will not lessen the crimes of the present government. He said the Congress never politicised anything for political gains and in adverse situation never let down the country at international level.
Targeting the Union government on a host of issues, including the farmers' agitation, foreign policy, price rise and unemployment, Singh said ahead of the Punjab elections on February 20 that the BJP's nationalism was based on the British policy of divide and rule.
The Congress played the message delivered in Punjabi at a press conference in Chandigarh.
According to Singh, the government had proved to be a complete failure on the issue of foreign policy. The Chinese army, he alleged, was occupying our pious land for the last one year but efforts are being made to bury this issue.
Our relations with neighbouring nations are also deteriorating, Singh said.
He said the government does not have trust in the country's constitution and institutions are continuously being weakened.
"On the one hand, people are facing problems of price rise and unemployment, on the other, the present government, which has been in power for the last seven and a half years, rather than admitting their mistakes and making amends, is still blaming first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for being responsible for people's problems," Singh said in his video statement.
The former Prime Minister defended Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and said that the BJP is trying to defame him in the name of security. Similarly, the farmers were also demonised.
Singh said there are many challenges before the people of Punjab and it is very important to deal with them effectively.
It is very important to address the issues of Punjab's development, its farming and unemployment, he said.
And this work can only be done by the Congress, he said as he appealed to the people of Punjab to vote for the Congress.
The Congress leader said he had worked as prime minister for 10 years and had always preferred that his work should speak for itself.
"We never divided the country for political gains. We never tried to put curtains on the truth. Never allowed the country's prestige to be lowered," he said.
With PTI and IANS inputs