‘Bogus crusade has come to an end’: Sonia Gandhi calls out witch hunt against Dr Manmohan Singh after CBI clean chit

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said the Supreme Court’s clean chit to former prime minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation case brought “one of the most tragic arcs of our public discourse” to a conclusion. She called out the witch hunt against Dr Singh, who she referred to as a man “of the most remarkable probity and integrity”.

In an opinion piece written for The Indian Express, Gandhi said Dr Singh was at the receiving end of a “coordinated and well-organised” lobbying against him, with participants from “bureaucracy to the media, the judiciary, civil society, and most certainly to the RSS and BJP”.

MUST READ | Rahul Gandhi pushes for all-party meeting in 50-minute call with Rijiju; Centre responds

“Today, their bogus crusade has come to its inevitable conclusion of nothingness. Dr Singh has been vindicated on every count. Dr Singh’s record of integrity and accountability stands in stark contrast to how the Narendra Modi government has operated, so clearly and grossly misusing agencies designed to investigate crime and corruption like the ED and the CBI,” she wrote.

Gandhi said leaders are either silenced through coercion, folded into BJP, or rewarded with ministerial roles. The Modi government simply brushes aside credible accusations of corruption, she said.

DON'T MISS | St Stephen's dropout to Cambridge MPhil: Tracing Rahul Gandhi's unique academic trail 

She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among “the most vocal proponents of the attack on Dr Singh”. “Since Mr Modi is these days “forgiving” India’s students for attacking him, perhaps he can take this opportunity to forgive himself for his undignified slander against Dr Singh. Introspection, like charity, must begin from home,” she wrote.

The attack on Dr Singh was motivated by a desperate desire to shift the public conversation away from his stellar performance, Gandhi said. She highlighted the former PM’s role in heralding “profound economic change”, India’s resilience during the 2008 recession, and the shift in employment patterns.

MUST READ | 'Were they terrorists?': Priyanka Gandhi asks why tear gas, lathis were used on protesting students

His tenure was characterised by growth and the heralding of a “new era of transparency in government” through the Right to Information Act. He made himself accountable to the Parliament as well as to the media.

“Dr Singh’s statesmanship, erudition, and fundamental decency are sorely missed in today’s conflicted times,” she wrote. Gandhi also said that history would “indeed remember him kindly as a quiet, gentle but a most consequential prime minister” as Dr Singh had once prophetically said.