Manmohan Singh's Cutting Attack On PM Modi Over Black Money, Notes Ban

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday sharply criticised the government on demonetisation and jobs data and said the state of affairs in the country were a powerful indictment of the BJP-led government. On the data of jobs created under the current government, Manmohan Singh said the numbers put out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government were questionable. "People are not impressed with the figures that are being put out by the Modi government to justify the creation of large number of jobs," he said.

He also attacked PM Modi's notes ban in 2016, days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that over 99 per cent of the banned cash was back in the system.

"Nothing concrete has been done to bring back the promised billions of dollars allegedly held abroad as black money," said Dr Singh.

He also accused the government of "bad implementation" of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). "Programmes like Make in India and Stand Up India are yet to make a meaningful impact on industrial production growth. Small and marginal enterprises are yet to derive significant benefit from the ease of doing business schemes. The hasty implementation of demonetisation and GST has hurt enterprises."

This is not the first time that he has taken on his successor over the notes ban and GST. These "coercive steps" cost the nation hugely and broke the backs of businesses, he said last year.

"Our neighbourhood is far less secure than it was in 2014. Our relations with neighbours have deteriorated in the last four years. The Modi government has failed to address issues relating to a creative use of science and technology for national transformation. Academic freedom is sought to be curbed. The environment in our universities is being vitiated." All of this, he said, "is a powerful indictment of the Modi government's performance." He also called for a meaningful national debate on issues.