Manmohan Singh slams Narendra Modi's first year in rare attack, Amit Shah hits back

As Narendra Modi celebrates his first year in power , former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday launched a rare and scathing attack on the BJP-led government, calling Modi's Make in India campaign a copy of the UPA policy and accusing the Centre of threatening democracy.

"What is this Make in India? It is a carbon copy of the programme that UPA had chalked out for manufacturing in the country," Singh told Congress workers in New Delhi. "All this talk of policy paralysis during the UPA regime is untrue. When our government left, India was the second fastest growing economy after China," he added.

"The BJP government had to manage certain statistics to show that they are on a recovery path, but the RBI chief has said that the recovery is fragile. If you look closely, all is not well with the state of economy," he said.

Singh also alluded to alleged threats to India's minorities under the new regime and its alleged undermining of key institutions. "The institution of democracy is under threat. The past is continuously being rewritten to promote a highly biased and communal view of history," he said.

A day after former TRAI chief Pradip Baijal accused Singh of threatening him with dire consequences if he did not listen to the government on 2G spectrum allocation, the economist-turned-politician said, ""As far as I am concerned, I can say in all humility that I have not used my public office to enrich myself, to enrich my family or my friends. And still the BJP government keeps on harping on this theme of corruption because it wants to distract the attention of the people to non-issues."

"The image of UPA being corrupt is being created by the Modi government to distract from its failure. We have been fighting corruption and will continue to fight corruption," he said.

Stressing that he is proud of leading the UPA government for 10 years, the economist-turned-politician said, "We have nothing but to be proud of our achievements. What we did was take a massive amount of people out of poverty and diseases. The task, though unfulfilled, was widely achieved. I could go on, but the time is limited."

BJP hits back

Shortly after Singh spoke, BJP chief Amit Shah hit back, reminding the UPA of the corruption scams during its 10-year-old rule. "More than Rs 12 lakh crore was embezzled during Dr Manmohan Singh's rule. How can the Congress escape that responsibility?"

Shah said while Singh may not have been corrupt himself, it was his responsibility to check any such malpractices in his government. A series of scams during the UPA regime was the main reason behind the Congress's worst ever performance in Lok Sabha elections last year.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also addressed a press conference. "It is an irony that Manmohan Singh chooses to break his silence now. He did not speak when he should have spoken. He has now spoken in self-defence, not for the nation," he said, referring to Baijal's allegations on the 2G scam.