Manmohan Singh dies: UPA-II (2009-2014) was marred by corruption. To many people, UPA-II is synonymous with corruption. 2G, Adarsh, CWG, Coalgate and the most recent Railgate are only some of the biggest scams to have signed UPA-II. And at the helm of it was the then PM - Manmohan Singh. The tenure also saw a narrative emerge of an ideological split between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, despite the party managers going blue in the face denying it.
While the BJP which was in Opposition continuously cornered the Singh government over corruption, it also termed Manmohan Singh as a 'reluctant' PM working under the shadow of the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
The Prime Minister gave his statement on coal block allocation in Lok Sabha but due to heavy uproar in Lok Sabha, he could not read his full statement. On the coal scam, Manmohan Singh said, "Allegations of irregularities are baseless because the figures presented by CAG are not based on facts. If coal has not been extracted yet, how can there be talk of loss." The then Prime Minister said that CAG's calculations are clearly controversial and argumentative.
He added, "I want to assure the honourable MPs that being the incharge of the ministry, I want to say that whatever decision the coal ministry has taken, I take full responsibility for it." Manmohan Singh also read a sher (couplet) attacking BJP outside Parliament, the gist of which was that if they open their mouth, the reality of BJP will come out. "Hazaron jawabon se acchi hai meri khamoshi, najane kitene sawalon ke aabru dhak leti hai.
There is another instance of his poetic prowess when he dwelled with the late Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj. The incident was on March 23, 2011 when issue of cash for votes was being discussed in the Lok Sabha and Manmohan Singh was answering the questions of the opposition. During this, the leader of opposition Sushma had said sarcastically to him, "Tu idhar udha kee na baat kar, ye bata ke kaaravaan kyon loota, mujhe rahajanon se gila nahin, teri rahabaree ka savaal hai."
To which Manmohan Singh replied, "Maana ke teri deed ke kaabil nahin hoon main, tu mera shauk to dekh, mera intajaar to dekh." After this Sushma Swaraj and the entire Opposition was seen smiling.
