CHANDIGARH: Former PM Manmohan Singh expressed concern over the rise in atrocities against minorities and Dalits and “a dangerous and false binary now surfacing in Indian political discourse”. Red-flagging the issue of undermining of the electoral system by use of money power and muscle power, he voiced the fear that people may be veering towards more authoritarian alternatives.

Singh was delivering the first Prof S B Rangnekar Memorial Oration lecture on “The Seventieth Anniversary of Our Independence — Strengthening the Roots of Our Democracy” as the Jawaharlal Nehru Chair professor at his alma mater Panjab University, Chandigarh, on Wednesday.

Quoting Dr B R Ambedkar , he said, “On this 70th anniversary, we must ensure that we do not fall into the trap of choosing government for the people over government by and of the people. We need to ask ourselves whether we are losing patience with democracy and turning to more authoritarian alternatives that may well yield superior short-term results but in the long term will end up destroying our country and all the achievements of the last 70 years.” Singh spoke of the need to focus on growing economic inequality.

Warning that the rise in atrocities against minorities and Dalits can harm our democracy, he urged people to strongly reject divisive policies and politics.

He said, “A dangerous and false binary is now surfacing in Indian political discourse, which must be firmly rejected. It is that we have to choose between freedom and development. It is not a new binary.”

Pointing out that freedom of a country did not mean the freedom of just its government, he said, “Freedom is the freedom to question, the freedom to express one’s views, howsoever troubling they may be for others... The freedom of one person or a group should not be used to constrain the freedom of other individuals or groups.”

