NEW DELHI, Apr 3
As former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh retired as a member of the Rajya Sabha, officially bidding adieu to active politics, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote to him, saying he will always remain a hero to the middle class and the aspirational youth, a leader and guide to the industrialists and entrepreneurs and a benefactor to the poor. Singh’s Rajya Sabha term comes to an end on Wednesday.
“As you retire today from the Rajya Sabha… an era comes to an end… Very few people have accomplished as much as you for the nation and its people,” he wrote.
Singh became a member of the Upper House for the first time in October 1991.
He was elected for the sixth term in 2019. Kharge, a minister in the UPA II government, noted that Singh had made it a point to be available for the Congress over the last few years despite personal inconveniences.
“You have shown that it is possible to pursue economic policies that were equally beneficial to large industries, young entrepreneurs, small businesses, the salaried class and the poor… Thanks to your policies, India was able to lift 27 crore people, the highest number of poor people, out of poverty… The MGNREGA scheme launched under your government continues to provide relief to the rural workers… the rural poor will always remember you for ensuring that they can… live with self-respect,” he said.
Kharge recalled Singh’s pursuit to secure the India-US nuclear deal, an issue on which the Left parties withdrew support to the UPA government in 2008. “The patriotic legacy of the Congress and its spirit of sacrifice was ably demonstrated by you when you decided to pursue the Indo-US Nuclear Deal even if it meant putting your government at risk… The respect and regard that… other world leaders had… further increased during the Global Financial Crisis… I remember President Obama mentioning about you that ‘Whenever the Indian Prime Minister speaks, the whole world listens to him.’” The Congress chief also used the occasion to make a political point. “The economic prosperity and stability that we enjoy today is built on the foundations laid by you along with our former Prime Minister, Bharat Ratna Shri P V Narasimha Rao. The current set of leaders who have reaped the benefits… seem to go out of their way to speak ill about you and make personal attacks against you,” Kharge wrote.
“Whatever little reforms done by the current government has its seeds in the work initiated in the UPA government headed by you. The work initiated… to ensure direct transfer of benefits to individual beneficiaries by creating zero balance accounts, unique identification of the beneficiary through Aadhaar was hijacked by the succeeding government, without giving you credit. In some cases, the good work initiated by you seems to be slowly undone,” he said.
