india

Updated: Jul 12, 2020 06:35 IST

In a sharp response to former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s criticism of the BJP government’s ‘model of governance’, union minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday that he should instead ‘reflect on his own failures’.

“Dr Manmohan Singh should reflect on his own failures, where he went wrong, why he couldn’t maintain a strong economy and give an honest government, why he was so helpless that he had to obey orders from 10 Janpath and had no capacity to take his own decisions,” said the minister of Railways and Commerce, according to news agency ANI.

Goyal was reacting to Singh’s attack from poll-bound Maharashtra on the government’s handling of the economy, insisting that its policies were responsible for growing unemployment, farm suicides and factories shutting down.

“Before one can fix the economy, one needs a correct diagnosis of its ailments and their causes. The government is obsessed with trying to somehow fix blame on its opponent. In the process, it is unable to find a solution that will ensure the revival of the economy particularly strengthening of the banking system,” he added. The former prime minister and economist added that the slowdown and government apathy was affecting aspirations and future of Indians.

On the Congress stand on the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said: “Congress party voted in favour of bill to abrogate Article 370, not against it. We believe Art 370 is a temporary measure but if a change has to be brought, it should be with goodwill of people of J&K. Manner in which it was implemented is what we opposed.”

This came soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also campaigning in Maharashtra, tore into the Congress over the issue. “A Congress leader had said this decision will destroy the country, it’s been 3 months, has the country been destroyed? Another Congress leader said that we’ve lost Kashmir by abrogating Article 370,have we lost Kashmir? If you want to go to Kashmir let me know, I’ll make arrangements,” the Prime Minister said.