News

Modi should follow his own advice to me, speak more often: Manmohan Singh on Kathua, Unnao rapes

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while lashed out at Narendra Modi for his prolonged silence over the brutal rape and murder of the minor Kathua girl and alleged rape of a teenager by a BJP MLA in Unnao.

Singh while speaking to the Indian Express said that ‘Modi should follow his own advice to me and speak more often’.

In an exclusive interview, Singh said he was glad that Modi finally broke his silence last Friday at an event in Delhi commemorating the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar, when he said the “daughters of India” will get justice and the guilty won’t be spared.

Asked about the manner in which the BJP would taunt him, calling him ‘Maun-Mohan Singh’ when he chose silence over speech on several matters during the last months of his government, the former PM said he “had lived with comments like these his whole life”.

Singh said that Modi’s failure to speak up earlier had allowed people to think that they could get away without stern action being taken against them. “I do feel that those in authority must speak up in time (so as) to give a lead to their followers,” he said.

In the wake of the Delhi gangrape in 2012, the Congress party and his government had taken necessary action by amending the laws around rape, said Singh.

Asked if J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had handled the Kathua rape case properly, Singh said, “She could have handled this more seriously, taken matters into her hands right from the beginning and taken a firm stand” to bring the guilty to book without delay. He said that there may have been pressures on her from her coalition partner, the BJP, to go slow, especially since two BJP ministers — they have since resigned — in her government had come out in favour of the rape accused.

Recently, two BJP Ministers Chaudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga were forced to resign after they rallied in support of the accused in the Kathua rape and murder case.

Earlier, the BJP had said that both the ministers were ‘misled and misguided by a few people.’ The main opposition party National Conference had said that they will consider a civil disobedience movement against the government if they fail to take action against the ‘erring ministers’.

However, after resigning, Lal Singh on Tuesday began a march to demand CBI probe into the case.

“The fight is for justice only and its will be done with identifying real culprits,” Singh said while addressing hundreds of supporters at Satwari Chowk in Jammu as he began his Kathua march. “She was our own daughter. We are fighting to punish her culprits but it is unfortunate that people living far away are interpreting this case without knowing the facts,” he said.

The BJP dissociated itself from Singh’s rally. They also said that the party has also initiated an internal inquiry against two axed ministers Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga for earlier participating in Hindu Ekta Manch rally in support of the accused.

Click to comment
To Top