Dr. Manmohan Singh,
This country and its citizens have given you the love and respect way beyond what you deserved.
This country gave you the credit for the long due historic reforms of 1991 even at the cost of the then PM PV Narsimha Rao, who was the political will behind those reforms and if we have learnt anything about politics in last few decades, that is what matters the most when it comes to taking big decisions because everyone knows what is the right thing to do but very few have the will and gumption to do it.
The citizens of the country never considered you corrupt and even forgave you for presiding over one of the most corrupt regimes in the world. They never questioned your integrity for even a bit even when scams after scams were coming into public domain day after day – 2G, Coalgate, CWG, Augusta Westland, Bank NPAs to name a few.
People even gave you a bigger majority in 2009 by believing in your honest and clean image, and your love for the country. They stood behind you like a rock even when you betrayed their mandate and let the goons and the corrupts run this country.
They raised their voices in your support when your own party was humiliating you every other day. They sided with you even when you embarrassed the highest constitutional post of this country by letting Rahul Gandhi to try and become a hero by tearing the ordinance passed by your cabinet.
People had many questions but they waited patiently for you to answer them and remained quiet when you chose not to. They did all this and even more because they believed that you are a patriot who just isn’t cut out for politics.
But how long are you going to test the patience of the people of this country? How long are you going to continue to speak for the people who have looted, divided and weakened this nation since a long time?
You chose to keep quiet when you were sitting on the most powerful seat of this country, hiding behind a philosophical argument “History will judge me kindly”, but you seemed to have found a voice in last few years since 2014.
You termed Demonitisation as “Organised loot and plunder” despite being an economist yourself. It was a political statement, not of an economist. Where was this politician when he was needed the most in all those years? If demonitisation was loot then what 2G, CWG, Coalgate were? Were they social schemes to help the richest of the richest of this country?
People, though they disagreed, still respected your opinion and even the leaders in the government refrained from attacking you other than a clever “raincoat” quip from the PM himself.
You gave legitimacy to the opposition’s fake campaign of “intolerance and lynchings” when you spoken at length about their increase since 2014. I wondered at the time why didn’t you speak even half this much on your government.
You went on to give many more political statements in last few years, more than ever you gave as the PM. But still people did not question you much and ignored it due to the respect they have for you.
But you are pushing the boundaries every now and then. And I don’t know for how long people will hold back. This time, you have crossed a red line by bringing Army and the defense forces into your rants. You claimed that your government had conducted multiple “Surgical Strikes” in your tenure and slammed Narendra Modi for using military operations for political gains.
Manmohan Singh Ji, you know better than anyone else what is the difference between a “Tactical Operation” and a “Surgical Strike”. DGMO categorically mentioned the word Surgical Strikes while briefing the media for the first time after the strikes. Later also, DGMO clarified in an RTI reply that no Surgical Strikes happened before 2016.
Citizens of this country do not take lightly to when you say the defense forces of the country are lying. Please ask all the opposition parties ranging from your own party Congress to AAP, TMC, SP, BSP and many others. You can bash the government as much as you want for taking credit for the strikes but you cannot question or belittle the country’s armed forces – which perhaps is the only institution this country has never lost faith in.
If you start parroting the lies and falsehoods of your political masters unashamedly then this country might start asking you some very uncomfortable questions which would be very difficult for you to answer starting with “What is your obligation or ‘majboori’ which made you keep quiet for 10 years and is making you speak in last 5 years?”
For all our sake, stop testing the patience of the people and enjoy this responsibility free phase of your life without burdening yourself with the opposition’s politics and stop lending your personal integrity to these campaigns, after all political currency is limited. Please do not waste it for perpetual liars and royal brats.
So, please do all of us a favor and retire for real!
With All Due Respect and more.