Indias former prime minister Manmohan Singh took a veiled dig at PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday, saying that he wasnt a prime minister who was afraid of talking to the press.
Singh was speaking at the launch of his book, Changing India, and was seemingly referring to allegations by the opposition that PM Modi has never held a single press conference after coming to power in 2014.
At the event in Delhis India International Centre, Indias former prime minister also narrated his journey from an economist to a politician, and shared anecdotes from his life.
Singhs Changing India is a set of five volumes that give the former PMs perspectives on a wide range of economic, social, and political issues as they evolved through his political career. Singh has also written about the time he spent in the academia during the 1950s, and his tenure as the prime minister from 2004-2014.
At the book launch, Singh said that India has been immensely kind to him and he will never be able to repay this debt
Life has been a great adventure and enterprise, and I have no regrets, he said, Hindustan Times reported.
On Indias prospects, he said, Despite all the hiccups and hurdles, I have no doubt that India will get its action right, despite be difficulties, this country is destined to be a major powerhouse.
He said further, The emergence of India as global power is one such idea whose time has come, as per the Hindustan Times report.
On being called a silent PM
Taking on his critics for calling him a silent PM, the former prime minister said he was never afraid of putting his views across,including through media interactions.
On the criticism of being silent, Singh said: People say I was a silent Prime Minister. I think these volumes speak for themselves. I would certainly like to say that I was not the Prime Minister who was afraid of talking to the press I met the press regularly, and on every foreign trip I undertook, I had a press conference in the plane, or immediately after landing. So there are a large number of those press conferences whose results are also described (in the book), as per an Indian Express report.
In what seemed to be a veiled reference to PM Modi not holding a single press conference, Singh said, I always spoke with the media. In the plane on every visit, I spoke with them. On landing, too, I spoke with them.
He then described how officials were nervous when he decided to address the National Press Club in Washington. I was never afraid of speaking, Singh said, the Weekreported.
Accidental Finance Minister
Recalling how he became Indias Finance Minister byaccident, Singh said that the then prime minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, wanted economist I.G. Patel for the post. However, as Patel was unwilling to take the job, it was assigned to Singh. People say I was an accidental Prime Minister,but I was also an accidental Finance Minister, Singh saidon a lighter note.
On the RBIs relationship with the Centre
Asked about the RBI and the Centres relationship, Singh said India needs a strong, independent RBI which has to work in close cooperation with the Central government.
He hoped that the government and the RBI find ways to work together. One has to respect the autonomy and independence of the RBI. At the same time, I would say the relation between government and RBI is like husband-wife relationship.
There will be hiccups, there will be difference of opinion,but ultimately these must be harmonised in a manner that these two great institutions can work in harmony. Whosoever is Governor of RBI, I wish him well, he said.
We need a strong independent RBI which has to work in close cooperation with the central government… Singh said, adding I do hope and pray that government and the RBI find ways to work together, as per a report in BloombergQuint.
Singhs comments came after the RBIs tenuous relationship with the government came to light. The fraught relationship has allegedly led to the resignation of the banks governor Urjit Patel ten months before the end of his term. Patel was succeeded by veteran bureaucrat Shaktikanta Das.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius