When Manmohan Singh came out sharply against PM Modi during 2024 Lok Sabha polls

New Delhi: His delicate health notwithstanding, the politician in former prime minister Manmohan Singh came out sharply during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections when he accused his successor Narendra Modi of lowering the dignity of public discourse and the gravity of the office of the prime minister by delivering "hateful speeches" during the poll campaign.

In an appeal to voters in Punjab ahead of the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha polls on June 1, Singh had asserted that only the Congress could ensure a growth-oriented progressive future where democracy and the Constitution would be safeguarded.

The senior Congress leader had also hit out at the BJP government for imposing an "ill-conceived" Agnipath scheme, which he termed as a threat to national security.

"The BJP thinks that the value of patriotism, bravery and service is only four years. This shows their fake nationalism," he had said in what is considered as his last letter to voters of Punjab.

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The Congress had released Singh's letter to the media on May 30.

Singh had said those who trained for regular recruitment were woefully betrayed by the Modi regime.

He had said, "The youth of Punjab, the son of the farmer, who dreams of serving the motherland through the Armed Forces, is now thinking twice about getting recruited only for a four-year stint. The Agniveer scheme endangers national security. The Congress party has therefore promised to abolish the Agniveer scheme." Mounting an attack on Modi, he had said, "I have been keenly following the political discourse during this election campaign. Modi ji has indulged in the most vicious form of hate speeches, which are purely divisive in nature. Modi ji is the first prime minister to lower the dignity of public discourse, and thereby the gravity of the office of the prime minister."

"No prime minister in the past has uttered such hateful, unparliamentary and coarse terms, meant to target either a specific section of the society or the opposition. He has also attributed some false statements to me. I have never in my life singled out one community from the other. That is the sole copyright of the BJP," the former prime minister had said.

"People of India are seeing through all of this. This narrative of dehumanisation has now reached its peak. It is now our duty to save our beloved nation from these forces of discord," Singh had said.

He had appealed to the voters to give love, peace, fraternity and harmony a chance in India and urged the voters in Punjab to vote for development and inclusive progress.

"I appeal to all the young minds to exercise caution and vote for a brighter future. Only Congress can ensure a growth-oriented progressive future, where democracy and the Constitution shall be safeguarded," Singh had said.

Modi had accused Singh of saying that Muslims had the first right on the country's resources.

"This narrative of dehumanisation has now reached its peak. It is now our duty to save our beloved nation from these forces of discord," Singh had said in the letter.

The former prime minister had noted that India was standing at a crucial juncture and, in the last phase of voting, "we have one final chance to ensure that democracy and our Constitution is protected from the repeated assaults of a despotic regime, trying to unleash dictatorship in India".

Lauding Punjabis as warriors, he had said they were known for their spirit of sacrifice and indomitable courage and innate belief in the democratic ethos of inclusiveness, harmony, amity and brotherhood could protect our great nation.

"In the past 10 years, the BJP government has left no stone unturned in castigating Punjab, Punjabis and Punjabiyat. 750 farmers, mostly belonging to Punjab, were martyred while incessantly waiting at Delhi borders, for months together. As if the lathis and the rubber bullets were not enough, none less than the prime minister verbally assaulted our farmers by calling them 'andolanjeevis' and 'parjeevi (parasites)' on the floor of Parliament. Their only demand was the withdrawal of the three farm laws imposed on them without consulting them," he had said.

"Unprecedented unemployment and unbridled inflation have greatly widened inequality, which is now at a 100-year high. While the Congress-UPA, despite challenges, increased the purchasing power of our people, the misrule of the BJP government has resulted in depletion of household savings to a historic 47-year low," he had added.

Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms and a consensus builder in the rough world of politics, died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, late on Thursday. He was 92.