BJP Chief Amit Shah Attacks Ex-PM Manmohan Singh

JALNA: BJP President Amit Shah today took a dig at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying he always kept “mum” on various issues in contrast to his successor Narendra Modi who is an “articulate” prime minister.

“Manmohan Singh was a ‘maun’ prime minister whereas Narendra Modi is a ‘bolnewala pradhan mantri’ (talking prime minister),” Shah said addressing an election meeting for his party candidate Arvind Chavan at Azad ground here.

In a scathing attack on Singh, whom Modi had also targetted during the campaign for Lok Sabha polls, Shah said, “Singh was the maun prime minister propped up by the UPA regime. Singh used to speak only to his wife, besides Congress president Sonia Gandhi,”.

“In contrast, BJP has given to people a talking prime minister. Modi went to Japan, Nepal and also spoke at Madison Square Garden in the US. He also held talks with Chinese President. Narendra bhai spoke in Hindi in the US and Japan and we should be proud about it,” the BJP chief said.

Referring to Modi’s maiden address as Prime Minister from the ramparts of Red Fort on Independence Day, Shah said, “Modi has the courage to speak at Red fort without bulletproof glass as he has a 56-inch chest.”

He also hit back at Congress president Sonia Gandhi for demanding an “account of achievements” of Modi government of last 100 days.

“She (Sonia) wants account of the four-month rule of Modi government. Did Congress give account of 60 years of its rule?” he asked.

Refuting Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s charge that Narendra Modi government failed to give a befitting reply to Pakistan for repeated violations of ceasefire at border, Shah said, “Our soldiers are giving a counter reply. Rahul cannot see what is happening at the border because he is wearing Italian glasses.”

Shah also accused the erstwhile Congress-NCP coalition government in Maharashtra of “indulging in scams and patronising corruption.”

“The Congress-NCP government had indulged in 101 scams in its 15-year rule in which Rs 11.88 lakh crore were swindled by corrupt politicians. But no one went to jail as they themselves conducted inquiry and no result came out. This is the case of culprits becoming investigators,” Shah said.

He said that Maharashtra has lost its previous sheen under the Congress-NCP rule.

“Maharashtra was once ahead in agriculture, cooperative sector, dairy farming and industry. However, the current condition is that industries are moving out from the state, farmers are committing suicide, and there is no electricity and water. All this happened due to the misrule of the Congress-NCP,” he alleged.

However, in his half-hour speech, Shah did not name either Shiv Sena or MNS even once.