Centre can't expect party's support to build 'Congress-mukt India', says Manmohan Singh

Former PM Manmohan Singh hit out at the Modi government saying that they had not been able to unify political parties to come to a consensus on economic reforms which are key to India's growth. In an interview to the Hindustan Times, he said, the Centre cannot expect his party to cooperate in any reform process if it has a 'Congress-mukt Bharat' agenda.

"That’s a process which simply requires a different mindset from a mindset that says the government’s mindset is to build a Congress-mukt India,” he said. “If your mission is to destroy the Congress party, you can’t expect the Congress party, howsoever well-intentioned you are, to cooperate in that process.”

He said that the government could have used the two years to push for the reforms process  “For various reasons, this has not happened. Whether it is the GST (goods and services tax), whether it is the land-acquisition bill, whatever the differences among political parties.” he said.

The GST bill has been stuck in the Parliament owing to differences between the two parties.

Singh was the Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao government during which the key 1991 economic reforms were unveiled. He was also the prime minister of the country from 2004 to 2014.

Singh also said that the Modi government should focus on social reforms than just economic ones.  “Apart from economic policy measures in the traditional sense of the term, there should be every effort to deal with the social content of economic reforms. Social peace and commercial harmony are essential for any credible reform programme,” Singh said.

As opposed to other Congress members, Singh supported the Centre's national income calculation method. “I don’t think the GDP figures are fudged. However, the methodology has changed," he said.

He also seemed hopeful that the country's GDP will grow between 7-7.5 % given the monsoon rains are normal.