While Singhvi says Modi's acts must be judged issue-wise, not person-wise, Tharoor says praising the PM for doing the right things would lend credibility to the opposition's criticism
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may be an anathema to the Congress, especially the Gandhi family, but many of its leaders have started finding merits in the person and his policies lately.
A day after former cabinet minister in Congress-led UPA government, Jairam Ramesh said that PM Modi's governance model was "not a complete negative story" and demonising him all the time will not augur well for the party, at least two senior Congress leaders - Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Shashi Tharoor - on Friday came out in the open to back his views.
While Singhvi, who is also defending his colleague former finance minister P Chidambaram in INX Media money laundering case, said Modi's acts must be judged issue-wise, not person-wise, Tharoor said praising the PM for doing the right things would lend credibility to the opposition's criticism.
Recognising some of the efforts of PM Modi, especially schemes like Ujjwala, Ramesh had said that it was wrong to portray Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance model as a "complete negative story" and not recognising his work and demonising him all the time was not going to help.
"It is time we recognise PM Modi's work and what he did between 2014 and 2019 due to which he was voted back to power by over "30 per cent of the electorate," said Ramesh while launching a book.
"He (PM Modi) talks in a language that connects him with the people. Unless we recognise that he is doing things which people recognise and which have not been done in the past, we are not going to be able to confront this guy," he added explains how the social relations created out of Modi's governance model were different and trumped all factors during elections.
Echoing Ramesh, Singhvi tweeted, "Always said demonising Modi wrong. No only is he PM of nation, a one way opposition actually helps him (sic)."
"Acts are always good, bad and indifferent-they must be judged issue-wise and not person-wise. Certainly, Ujjawala scheme is only one amongst other good deeds," Singhvi added.
Aligning with Singhvi, Tharoor said, "As you know, I have argued for six years now that Narendra Modi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing, which would add credibility to our criticisms whenever he errs. I welcome others in opposition coming around to a view for which I was excoriated..."
Former president Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee also agreed. Replying to Singhvi, she added a caveat and said, "Very true sir. Nation-building is an ongoing process carried on by successive governments. Hope Mr Modi and team also realise this."
However, Ramesh's praise seemed to have not gone well with many as Congress veteran KK Tewary said some "self-propagating" leaders in the Congress have "hijacked" the party and making all kinds of comments that are not in the interest of the party.
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