Our silent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted that Narendra Modi did pose a challenge to the Congress.
Our silent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday accepted that BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi did pose a challenge to the Congress and asserted that “there is no room for complacency”.
Replying to query during the Hindustan Time Leadership Summit, Mr. Singh said “As an organised political party we can not underestimate the power of opposition to unsettle the ship of the State. Therefore I am one of those who take very seriously our opposition, there is no room for complacency.”
He said, “The Congress is going into the elections with a spirit of self confidence and that should not be mistaken whatever the may be the outcome of the Assembly elections.”
To another query on the requirement and timing of the Communal Violence Bill, Singh firmly said, “It is not a vote catching gimmick.”
Affirming that it was a Bill “whose time had come”, he noted how in the last five or six years the country has been struggling with the crisis of communal riots in one or the other part. In particular, the Prime Minister referred to the latest riots in Muzaffarnagar and said how it was a reminder that even though as a country we can take pride in our capability to guard all the people of our country, still there are times when that does not happen.
“Our effort has been to create an environment where the officials would have the responsibility to look after the law and order situation as effectively as is humanly possibly. Plus, also if riots cannot be prevented there should be very quick compensation for the victims. So I think these are two basic principles which underline the purpose of the Communal Violence Bill,” he added.
If we rewind the clock by six months, we’d have a large part of this Modi impact gone. Another six months and whatever we have in the name of this Modi wave, or effect, is nothing more than a little commotion in the remains.
What leads this political wave is a long period of pause symbolized disreputably by a weak, rudderless headship, policy paralysis and a flurry of scams upsetting a non-functional government. A study would disclose Modi is everything Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not. He is vocal, lively and even offensive. And his frequent faltering on facts present a friendly contrast to the empty sophistication of Singh.
For the past decade, we have had a political headship which failed to gain confidence among people. Even as scam after scams kept denting his and his government’s reputation beyond recovery, Singh did not even once adopt an oratory which was appeasing. The end outcome was a accumulation of public anger which was apparent in itself on events such as the Anna Hazare movement of 2011 and the demonstrations following the Delhi gang rape in December 2012. These were the alarms the Congress along with the other political group read well but was unsuccessful in taking advantage of it.
