Irony couldn’t get richer. Manmohan Singh, the same man who was at the helm during the ten years that saw massive scams plague the country, the man who belongs to the same party that imposed an autocratic emergency on the Indian people, has accused the current government of “threatening democracy”. In a speech at the ‘Jan Aakrosh rally’ organised by the Congress in the capital, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has alleged that ‘democracy is under attack’ by the current government. Even more ironically, the reason he has given is the failed bid to impeach CJI Dipak Misra, which in itself, was Congress’ latest attempt to interfere with the Judiciary, and was thereby a direct attack on Indian democracy. Dr. Manmohan Singh alleging danger to democracy is a laughable attack considering he never won a seat in the Lok Sabha throughout his career as a politician. From 2004-2014, his role as a puppet Prime Minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime came to an end, and he never faced a Lok Sabha election. The only time he had faced one was in 1999 when he lost from the South Delhi seat. A man who never successfully won a democratically contested election in India preaches about threat to democracy.
As revealed by the declassification of 710 files of the National Advisory Council, a body which held considerable sway over the workings of the UPA governments, it is quite evident that the ten years of UPA rule were anything but democratic. The NAC was the brainchild of erstwhile Congress President Sonia Gandhi who used the NAC to supersede the decisions taken by Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet. In a nasty show of power and connivance, the NAC rendered Manmohan Singh and the Cabinet powerless. The number of scams that emerged in the era of UPA-II could also be attributed to the NAC decisions which could not be overturned by even Manmohan Singh. As revealed in the 2014 book ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ by ex-PM Manmohan Singh’s media advisor Sanjaya Baru, the power resided with the Congress President Sonia Gandhi rather than Mr. Singh. The book alleges that Manmohan was not the one controlling his own Cabinet. Furthermore, he did not have command over the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The files meant for the PMO used to regularly land at 10 Janpath, the official residence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. All this was done throughout the 10-year rule of the Congress, while Manmohan was reduced to a face and hand which carried out orders and signed on documents as per the direction of Sonia Gandhi.
The mockery of democracy made by Congress leaders has been exposed countless number of times. The same Congress party which once imposed Emergency in the country to save its position at the Center to the latest motion of Impeachment which they tried to bring against the CJI, has the gall to call into question the ruling government’s democratic integrity. Congress’ history is full of crimes against the democratic setup of this country. In order to hide their faults, they usually go to the extent of blaming other parties and leaders, an offensive game which has started backfiring in recent days. The legacy of Congress and that of Mr. Manmohan himself is full of examples that are nothing less than blots on the democratic framework of our Constitution. It is surprising therefore, that a man who did not raise his voice even once when democracy was being threatened under his rule is pointing fingers. Well, Mr. Manmohan might not be the PM anymore but he is still a Congress leader and thereby bound to follow the party orders. He has proved to be excellent at following orders in the past, and at the Jan Aakrosh Rally in Delhi he proved he is just as efficient a puppet today as he has been in the past. Take a bow, Mr.Singh, take a bow.
