Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said there is a crisis of confidence in the government and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must give "every Indian" the confidence that he cares for people's well-being.
Singh was critical of the prime minister for not speaking on issues like beef or communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and elsewhere. Stating that "people don't believe the government", the former prime minister said, "when they (apparently industrialists) go and call on the ministers, they say the right things, but when they come out, all of them say that nothing much has changed... There is today a crisis of confidence in the government."
Singh said beef controversy and issues like intolerance were problems. "All these are problems. The public in our country expects the prime minister to take the lead in managing public opinion. But he (Modi) has never spoken; whether it is on the beef problem or whether it is what happened in Muzaffarnagar or elsewhere, he has kept quiet." "I don't know. I cannot read his mind. But he is the prime minister of all the people of India and he must give every Indian the confidence that in him we have a prime minister who cares for our well-being," he said.
Reacting to his remarks, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the criticism was "misplaced" while adding that the Modi government had launched a host of schemes like Mudra and Jan Dhan besides other welfare measures for the downtrodden and weaker sections of society.