Only Manmohan Singh can teach how to bathe with raincoat on: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh knew the "art of bathing wearing a raincoat."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. | PTI File Image
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. | PTI File Image

NEW DELHI: If isolating the Congress in Parliament with sharp artillery fire was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strategy in his reply to the motion of thanks to the President’s address, he seemed to have partly succeeded. The Congress looked a bit lonely in its ‘walkout’ in angry reaction to the PM’s jibe on his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

Though it vowed to boycott the PM’s speech in Parliament unless he apologises, the scenario was a far cry from the Winter session, which was washed out thanks to the unity seen in the Opposition ranks.

On Wednesday, in the Upper House, the PM picked on both the Congress and the Left — Manmohan and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury to be precise — for their trenchant criticism of ‘note-bandi’. They had been the most effective dissenting voices to Modi’s claim that demonetisation was a pioneering and path-breaking initiative, with its positives far outweighing the temporary logjam it put the cash economy in.

But, if he was scathing in his reference to Manmohan, he was only expressing mild ‘surprise’ at the Left opposition to his demonetisation drive, given its past position on the black money issue.

Reserving his most biting retaliation for Manmohan’s ‘monumental blunder’ remark on demonetisation, Modi quipped that political leaders can learn from the former PM how to take bath with a raincoat on (implying that he only protected himself from the taint of scam but allowed it to happen all around him). 

“Dr Manmohan Singh has been in key economic roles for almost half of India’s years of Independence. No single person has exercised such enormous influence over this country’s economic policies like him. (But) there was not a single allegation of corruption against him... Bathroom mein raincoat pehen kar nahaane ki kala sirf Doctor Sahab (Manmohan) hi jaante hain (only Singh knows how to bathe in a raincoat),” said Modi. The Congress walk-out ensued.

As for the Left, the PM sought to remind Yechury that the stalwarts of his party, whether Jyoti Basu or Harkishen Singh Surjeet, had all voiced misgivings against the rampant use of black money during the Indira Gandhi dispensation.

It was an attempt to hold a mirror to the CPM, questioning its alliance with the Congress in the West Bengal polls, intended to cause Yechury discomfort.

The Congress by then was all fire and brimstone outside in the Parliament forecourt, calling Modi’s remarks on his predecessor below the belt and “unbecoming” of a PM. 
Even Congressmen not known to be too fond of Manmohan or his policies, like Digvijaya Singh, objected to the comments. In fact, it was a little ironic to see the Congress rally
behind Manmohan so strongly.

The party’s deputy leader in the House Anand Sharma, senior leader Ahmed Patel and the feisty Renuka Choudhury all registered their protests.

Sharma said the PM was not just lowering the level of discourse, he was also insulting the memory of Indira Gandhi who had given her life for the country.

The PM had said Indira did not act on the proposal of demonetisation to fight corruption and black money fearing its impact on the Congress’s electoral prospects.

The PM had taken a dig at Rahul Gandhi too in the Lok Sabha, but the reaction to that was considerably subdued. The fact that the Congress still has strong numbers in the Rajya Sabha also contributed to how things escalated.

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