Manmohan Singh: PM Modi's five years 'most traumatic, devastating'

New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be shown exit door as his fiveyear rule has been most traumatic and devastating for Indias youths farmers traders and every democratic institution his predecessor Manmohan Singh said SundaySingh in an exclusive interview to PTI dismissed the notion that there was a wave in favour of Modi and asserted that the people have made up their minds to vote out the government that does not believe in inclusive growth and is only worried about its political existence at the altar of disharmonyIn one of his most fierce attacks on the Modi dispensation Singh alleged that the past five years only witnessed stench of corruption peaking to unimaginable proportions adding demonetisation was perhaps the biggest scam of independent IndiaIncidentally the BJP campaign in the runup to the 2014 elections had centred on various alleged scams including in the allocations of 2G spectrum and coal blocks during the 10year tenure of the Singhled UPA governmentThe former prime minister also called Modis Pakistan policy slipshod which he said was marred by a series of flipflops from going to Pakistan uninvited to inviting rogue ISI to the Pathankot air base in connection with the probe into a terrorist attackSingh known as the architect of Indias economic reforms in the 1990s felt the country is headed for a slowdown and accused the Modi regime of leaving the countrys economy in dire straitsHe said people are fed up with the daily rhetoric and cosmetic change by the current dispensation and there is an undercurrent against this illusion and boastful selfaggrandizementIn a bid to counter the BJPs focus on the issues of nationalism and terrorism in this election the former prime minister sought to question Modis commitmentHe said it was distressing to note that Modi was filming movies in the Jim Corbett National Park instead of chairing any meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security CCS in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killedHe claimed the gross intelligence failure in Pulwama speaks volumes about this governments preparedness to tackle terrorLets not forget that Narendra Modis slipshod policy on Pakistan has been marred by a series of flipflops from going to Pakistan uninvited to inviting the rogue ISI to investigate the Pathankot Air Base terror attack Does it not speak volumes about the strategic failures of Modi Government on national security front he askedSingh said the Modi governments record on national security is dismal as incidents of terrorism have seen a quantum jumpA lie spoken a hundred times does not become the truth he said on Modis plank of nationalism adding that terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir alone have gone up by 176 per cent and ceasefire violations at the border with Pakistan up 1000 per cent in the past five yearsHe said that division and hate have become synonymous with the BJP and it thrives on societal fissuresA government which does not believe in inclusive growth and is only worried about its political existence at the altar of disharmony should be immediately shown the exit door he notedHe alleged that in the past five years the stench of corruption has peaked to unimaginable proportions and there is a definite collusion of people holding political positions and scamsters who fled the country after defrauding banksSingh said the BJPs political distress emanates from its failed track record and claimed the party is searching for new narratives everyday This reflects the bankruptcy of a national security vision for the countryFive years of Modi Government is a sad story of governance and accountability failure In the year 2014 Modiji came to power on the promise of acche din His five years rule has ended up being the most traumatic and devastating for Indias youth farmers traders businesses and every democratic institution he saidOur sociopolitical ambience has lost cohesiveness People are fed up with the daily loud rhetoric of cosmetic change There is a sense of deep despair and disillusionment amongst the masses People have made up their minds to reject the Modi Government and the BJP so that the future of India is safe and secure Singh saidThe former Prime Minister said one man would not do any justice to the aspirations and hopes of the people by imposing the thought process and will of one person on a diverse country like IndiaRepresentation in India is very important A single man can neither represent all the desires of 130 crore people of India and can also not solve the variety of problems faced by them The idea of one man as the monolith of knowledge cannot be applied to India he said on whether a presidential form of election is good for democracyOn foreign policy he said India has always been guided by national interests and not for image building of any individualThe foreign policy entails gravitas a sense of diplomacy and restraint sensitivity towards the concerns of the host nation and ultimately furthering the interests of India but regrettably this governments foreign policy is founded upon anything but a mature comprehension of diplomacy he said