Former Union Minister Arun Shourie, who was once an admirer of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, saying that its “lack of direction is making people miss Dr Manmohan Singh”, referring to the former Prime Minister.
Shourie made the comments during a book launch. The function to launch ‘Turn of The Tortoise’, a book written by former Business Standard editor-in-chief TN Ninan, was attended by Manmohan Singh, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subranamian and former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Shourie, a minister in the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, sharply criticised the Modi government saying, “People have started recalling the days of Manmohan Singh.”
“Doctor Singh (Manmohan Singh) ko log yaad karne lag gaye hain (People have started recalling the days of Manmohan Singh). The way to charaterise policies of the government is — Congress plus a cow. Policies are the same,” Shourie said.
Ever since Modi came to power, the PMO is considered to be very efficient and the most powerful office. However, the senior BJP leader feels the other way. He said, “I feel there was never a weaker a PMO as now”.
When asked how he would distinguish the NDA from the UPA, Shourie described the policies of PM Modi’s government as “Congress scaled plus a cow”, an acerbic comment on the BJP’s repeated invoking of cow protection after the mob-killing of a man in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri last month over rumours that he had eaten beef.
Shourie claimed that industrialists are afraid of speaking against the government. “The industrialists who meet the Prime Minister don’t speak whole truth. After meeting PM, they wonder what is happening and say ‘please do something’. And in front of media they give the government 9 out of 10,” Shourie said.