On Sunday (21st April), Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Congress party and its Muslim appeasement politics during an election campaign meeting in Banswara town of Rajasthan.
He lambasted the wealth distribution scheme of Congress scion Rahul Gandhi and reminded the voters about the infamous speech of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from 2006.
“During the time of their government, they (Congress) had declared that Muslims have the first claim of this country’s resources. First, they will seize your properties and distribute them to Muslims, those who produce a high number of offspring, and infiltrators,” PM Modi emphasised.
PM Modi tears into the ‘Maoist’ part of Congress manifesto:
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) April 21, 2024
“Congress promises to survey gold owned by our mothers and sisters. Then seize it from them.
“Congress wants to redistribute the gold among infiltrators and those who have many children.”#LokSabhaElections2024 pic.twitter.com/meIsa1a7wf
“Your properties will be handed over to infiltrators. Is that acceptable to you? This is the Congres manifesto according to which the gold owned by our mothers and sisters would be estimated, seized and distributed to those promised by former PM Manmohan Singh,” he pointed out.
PM Modi added, “This is the mindset of these urban Naxals. They will not even spare your mangal sutra and can go to any extent.”
Soon after the Congress party, its loyalists in the media and its close-knit ecosystem went overboard to discredit PM Modi and give a clean chit to ex-PM Manmohan Singh.
Congress spokespersons also spared no time trying to undo the damage inflicted on the party’s image by PM Narendra Modi.
5/n Supriya Shrinate. I hope @Shehzad_Ind bhai will give him a good reply from all of us. 🤭pic.twitter.com/X3zf6O2GTJ
— Anurag (@LekhakAnurag) April 21, 2024
With more than six phases of elections remaining, the Congress ecosystem has been rattled to the core by the speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
But this desperation to save the party’s image is not a new phenomenon. It was in full swing even 18 years ago.
The failed attempt at defending Manmohan Singh
On 9th December 2006, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated categorically that Muslims have the first claim on India’s resources. He made the contentious remarks during a meeting of the National Development Council (NDC).
He had explicitly mentioned the Muslim community in his speech. “We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources,” Manmohan Singh had said at that time.
The transcript of his speech can be verified from the video footage of the event. When the video made headlines in 2006, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was quick to issue a clarification alleging ‘deliberate and mischievous misinterpretation’.
Before Congress and its lackeys lie, here’s Manmohan Singh from 2006 saying Muslims have first right on resources https://t.co/w9RI2wYj85 pic.twitter.com/gpoFgvv8Iz
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) April 21, 2024
“The Prime Minister’s observations have also been quoted out of context in some sections of the electronic media, fuelling a baseless controversy,” a press release by the PMO dated 10th December 2006 read.
It had tried to rationalise the speech by arguing that the remarks were directed towards all ‘weaker sections of the society’ and not the just Muslim community in particular. PMO had even referenced parts of the speech where Manmohan Singh had mentioned ‘SC/STs, other backward classes, minorities and women and children’.
In its desperate attempt to shield the then Prime Minister from criticism, PMO conveniently forgot that there were no phrases similar to ‘particularly the Muslim minority’ in the entirety of the speech.
MMS literally used "particularly the Muslim minority" phrase. Even if one buys the spin that "they" refers to all groups and not just Muslims, what intent was there to particularly use "Muslims"? Why were there no other similar qualifications like "Scheduled Tribes, particularly… https://t.co/XgAKVgUCzR
— Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) October 3, 2023
The intention behind the remarks was crystal clear even in 2006. But when PM Manmohan Singh ended up stirring the hornet’s nest, the PMO came to his rescue. The controversy again surfaced 18 years later on Sunday (21st April) when PM Modi called out the Muslim appeasement politics of the Congress party.
And this time, the Congress-sponsored activists, journalists and spin doctors have come forward to defend the indefensible remarks of PM Manmohan Singh in 2006.
Controversial track record of Manmohan Singh
During his 10-year stint as the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has been unabashed in keeping forward his party’s agenda of consolidating the Muslim vote bank.
While it is true that he is remembered for his 2006 speech, the veteran Congress leader had made similar comments on at least four other occasions between 2004 and 2014 (the entirety of the UPA rule).
On 3rd July 2004, he remarked, “I am distressed by the low representation of minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, in many walks of life, both in the public and the private sector. I do not need to underline to this audience the gravity of the problem that this creates for our collective effort to create a truly inclusive and tolerant society, where the benefits of economic development are shared by all citizens.
On 2nd November 2006, Manmohan Singh highlighted the Congress party’s special preference for the Muslim community in comparison to other religious minorities.
“As I see it the main factor responsible for socio-economic backwardness of the minority communities, particularly the Muslim community is the lack of access to the common school system. This is particularly true in the case of the Muslim girls. During the current plan period and the next plan period, we must ensure that concrete schemes for setting up of secondary and higher secondary schools in the Blocks and Districts having predominantly Muslim population are indeed implemented with sharper focus on the Muslim girls. Widening of access of the Muslim girls in professional education, particularly medical and engineering courses should be a priority area of educational programmes.“
A month later, he said –
“Some minorities in India have done better than others. For example, in India, minority communities like the Jains and the Sikhs have fared relatively well from the process of social and economic development. However, other minorities, especially the Muslim community in certain parts of our country, have not had an equal share of the fruits of development. This has most recently been established by data provided in the Report of the High Level Committee on the Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India, popularly known as Sachar Committee. It is incumbent upon any democratically elected government to redress such imbalances and eradicate such inequities. I assure you, our Government is indeed committed to doing this.“
Just months before the 2014 election, Manmohan Singh lamented about Muslims not being able to reap the fruits of development.
On 13th January of that year, the then Prime Minister had said, “All minority communities do not form a homogenous group. Some have done reasonably well, benefitting from the processes of social and economic development. However, other minorities, especially the Muslim community in certain parts of our country, have not had an equal share of the fruits of development. This has most recently been established by the data provided in the report of the Sachar Committee which our Government had set up.“
