BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday hit back at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who put out a televised version of his response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s accusations over a dinner he attended with Pakistani diplomatic officials, former Indian diplomats and senior journalists.
Mr. Shah took to Twitter to express his “amusement” at the statement by Dr. Singh and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi’s slew of televised interviews on Wednesday. He questioned why former Union Minister Anand Sharma had first denied that the meeting with former Pakistan Foreign Secretary Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri had taken place.
The BJP leader said Dr. Singh was conveniently expressing anger against Prime Minister Modi, but that he chose to remain blind to the undermining of the Prime Minister’s Office by Mr. Gandhi and the corruption during the UPA government’s decade-long tenure.
‘Desperate Congress’
“Amused to see the Congress party so desperate before the Gujarat elections. Just a day before polling, both Shri Rahul Gandhi and respected Manmohan Singhji are only maliciously attacking Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
“If Congress is nervous after more than 60 rallies by Shri Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat, last day attacks on Prime Minister Modi are also not going to help them in Gujarat. We want to remind respected Manmohan Singh ji that he has done his best to mislead the people of Gujarat in previous elections but Gujarat has rejected him and Congress every time,” Mr. Shah said, continuing the acrimonious exchange of the election campaign.
“We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why he was not angry and anguished when a Chief Minister of his country was called maut ka saudagar . Why is he still silent when the Prime Minister of his country is called neech ,” Mr. Shah said.
He pointed to Mr. Gandhi’s act of tearing an ordinance cleared by the Manmohan Cabinet and would have saved convicted lawmakers from disqualification.
“Where was respected Manmohan Singh ji ’s anger when Shri Rahul Gandhi tore an ordinance which his Cabinet had cleared? Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Minister’s Office,” he said. “Only after the secret meeting was exposed, respected Manmohan Singh ji said the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations. Why did he not consider it appropriate to apprise the Government of India of such a meeting with a neighbour like Pakistan. Why did he try to hide it,” he said.
“We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singh ji these days. We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot and plunder was happening under his watch? The nation missed the anger then. When it comes to respected Manmohan Singh ji ’s honesty, I would not like to say anything. The monumental loot and plunder under his watch speak for him in abundance,” he said.
