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Congress’s Endeavor To Reshape The Narrative Of Narendra Modi’s Critique On Manmohan Singh Statement Ends In Failure, Here’s Why

The Commune

The Congress and its allies made another failed attempt to reframe the narrative around Narendra Modi’s recent criticism of minority appeasement. As the campaign fervor for the subsequent phases of Lok Sabha 2024 polling is intensifying. During an election rally in Banswara, Rajasthan on 21 April 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress party. He specifically criticized the inclusion of Rahul Gandhi’s leftist agenda of ‘wealth redistribution’ as outlined in the Congress’s Nyay Patra (election manifesto).

PM Modi equated this promise to the ideology of Maoists, underscoring Rahul Gandhi’s commitment to survey and redistribute the nation’s wealth in his speech. He referenced a previous statement by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh advocating priority access to the nation’s resources for Muslims. PM Modi cautioned that if the Congress were to regain power, they would redistribute the country’s wealth among Muslims, infiltrators, and families with multiple children.

Modi also said,  “Congress is trapped in the clutches of the Leftists and urban naxals. What Congress has said in its manifesto is serious and worrying. They have said that if they form a government then a survey of property belonging to every person will be done. It will be checked how much gold our sisters own, how much money government employees have…They also said that gold owned by our sisters would be equally distributed. Does govt have the right to take your property? For my mothers and sisters, their gold is not just for ornamentation. It is attached to their honour… And when they were in the government earlier they had said that Muslims have the first right over country’s resources. This means they will seize your property and distribute to those who have more kids, to infiltrators. Your hard earned money will be given to infiltrators. Do you accept this? This is what Congress Manifesto is saying. That they will account the gold of our mothers and sisters and distribute it to the ones whom Manmohan Singh’s government had said had first right over country’s resources.”

The BJP supporters hailed this speech as the return of the “classic Modi,” while it sparked reactions of frustration among Congress, leftist supporters, and other critics. However, these frantic efforts to salvage the party’s reputation are not a recent development; they were prevalent even 18 years ago.

On 9 December 2006, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh explicitly asserted that Muslims should be given priority access to India’s resources. This statement was made during a session of the National Development Council (NDC), despite the fact that the Minority Act of 1992 recognizes five religious minorities, namely Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians (Parsis). However, the Congress and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opted to support and specifically highlight Muslims for political appeasement and vote backing as they are a sizable population than others.

Manmohan Singh explicitly mentioned that “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,” and this raised controversy even at that time.

A subsequent statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on December 10, 2006, addressed the misinterpretation of the Prime Minister’s remarks in certain sections of the electronic media. The PMO clarified that the Prime Minister’s comments had been taken out of context, leading to an unfounded controversy. The statement emphasized that the Prime Minister’s remarks were intended for all marginalized sections of society, rather than exclusively targeting the Muslim community. The PMO pointed out specific parts of the speech where the Prime Minister had referenced Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), other backward classes, minorities, women, and children. Despite the PMO’s clarification, critics interpret the speech as attempting to appeal specifically to minorities, notably Muslims, given their population representation according to the 2001 census, which stood at 13.4%, as the other minority groups were not mentioned.

Other Instances Of Manmohan Singh Appeasing Minorities

Throughout his decade-long tenure as Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has openly advocated for advancing his party’s goal of strengthening support from the Muslim electorate. Although he is widely recognized for his 2006 address, the seasoned Congress politician has reiterated similar sentiments on at least four separate occasions between 2004 and 2014, spanning the entirety of the UPA administration.

On 3 July 2004, addressing minority welfare stated, “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 2 November 2006, Manmohan Singh emphasized the Congress party’s distinct favoritism towards the Muslim community over other religious minority groups and stated, “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.“

Later on, in the same month, 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 prior to the 2014 election, Manmohan Singh expressed regret over the lack of economic benefits reaching the Muslim community. Specifically, on 13 January 2014, the former Prime Minister made this statement “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.“

(with inputs from OpIndia)

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