Abolition Of Planning Commission Harmful For India; Says Manmohan Singh

19 November , New Delhi

Launching a broadside against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former premier Manmohan Singh Thursday asserted that the economic policies of the present regime were directionless, and questioned the dismantlement of the Planning Commission while scoffing at charges that the Congress had done nothing as a lie and malicious propaganda .

Dr Singh kept up his verbal offensive against Modi, terming his government’s economic policies as ‘directionless,’ and ‘counselled’ him to draw lesson from the approach and policy of Pandit Jawaharal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to develop the agriculture sector in the country.

Criticising the decision of the NDA Government, Dr Singh said,”Today, the Planning Commission has been scrapped. It provided critical direction to address poverty.”

Terming as a ‘lie’ the statements by Modi that the previous Congress Government had done nothing of substance, Dr Singh called on party workers to fight this ‘propaganda.’

”The propaganda by Modi that the Congress has done nothing is a malicious attack. We must expose these lies,” Dr Manmohan Singh said while addressing a national convention of the Youth Congress here, on the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi.

Terming the policies of the NDA as ‘directionless’, Dr Singh said history was witness to the role played by the Congress to strengthen the Indian economy. ”Compared to the directionless policies of the present Government, history shows the role of the Congress in strengthening the economy,” Dr Singh said.