Unnao Rape: Manmohan Singh asks PM Modi to follow his own advice - 'speak more often'

New Delhi : Manmohan Singh on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to follow his own advice of speaking more often. He was commenting over the long silence of PM Modi on Unnao and Kathua rape cases.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Indian Express that Modi “should follow his own advice to me” and “speak more often”.

“But I think the Prime Minister should follow his own advice to me and he should speak more often. Through press (reports) I know that he used to criticize me for not speaking up. I feel that the advice that he used to give me, he should follow it himself.”

In an exclusive interview, Manmohan Singh said he is glad that PM Modi finally broke his silence last Friday at an event in Delhi commemorating the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar, when he said the “daughters of India” will get justice and the guilty won’t be spared.

On asking if Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti would have handled the case better, Manmohan Singh said, she had acted on it more seriously.

The former PM also castigated many of the BJP’s state governments “for turning a blind eye” to law and order issues, especially around women’s safety, the lynching of Muslims as well as the baiting of Dalits. These three issues were bound to snowball in this last year before general elections in 2019, he said.

“People are misusing the authority of government. They think they can get away with it…law and order is the responsibility of state governments. The BJP government at the Centre could send instructions to its state governments to ensure that law and order is properly enforced, and minorities and Dalits and women are treated properly,” he said.