Sonia Gandhi hails Manmohan as ‘most consequential’ PM, takes swipe at Modi

Days after the Supreme Court gave former prime minister Manmohan Singh a clean chit in the coal block allocation case, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi launched a sweeping defence of his legacy, praising his integrity and record in office while accusing the Narendra Modi government of misusing investigative agencies and seeking to rewrite the political narrative around his tenure.

Sonia Gandhi said Singh’s record of integrity, accountability and probity stood in stark contrast to the manner in which the Modi government has operated, and predicted that history would remember the former prime minister as a “quiet, gentle but a most consequential prime minister”.

In a pointed dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi said that since he was currently “forgiving” Indian students for attacking him, perhaps he could also use the moment to forgive himself for what she described as his “undignified slander” against Singh.

Writing in The Indian Express, Sonia Gandhi described the Supreme Court judgment as the conclusion of what she called one of the most tragic chapters in India’s public discourse — the alleged “witch-hunt” against Manmohan Singh, whom she portrayed as a leader of exceptional honesty and integrity.

She alleged that the campaign against Singh had been coordinated and wide-ranging, involving sections of the bureaucracy, media, judiciary and civil society, as well as the RSS and BJP. With the Supreme Court verdict, she said, that “bogus crusade” had reached its inevitable end, with Singh vindicated on every count.

Sonia Gandhi described 29 July 2026, as an important yet largely unacknowledged date in India’s recent political history. On that day, she said, the Supreme Court upheld the CBI’s clean chit to Singh in the alleged coal block allocation scam.

More significantly, she pointed out, the apex court pulled up the trial court for rejecting the CBI’s closure reports and making adverse observations against Singh without any “compelling reason”.

Sonia Gandhi contrasted Singh’s record with what she called the Modi government’s “clear and gross” misuse of agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI, alleging that these institutions had been deployed primarily to exert political pressure.

According to Sonia Gandhi, Opposition leaders were either silenced through coercion, persuaded to join the BJP or, in some cases, rewarded with ministerial positions. She also accused the government of brushing aside credible corruption allegations when they involved its own political allies.

“Corrupt when you're in the Opposition, suddenly clean when you jump ship!” she said.

Sonia Gandhi also recalled Modi’s past criticism of Singh, pointing to his remarks in the Rajya Sabha on 8 February 2017, when he accused the former prime minister of knowing “the art of bathing with a raincoat on”.

She called the remark “snide and atrocious” and said it would remain one of the lowest moments in India’s parliamentary history.

Turning from political attacks to Singh’s governance record, Sonia Gandhi argued that his decade in office had ushered in profound economic transformation, marked by strong growth and a boom in consumption and private investment that helped propel India into the ranks of middle-income countries.

She pointed to India’s resilience during the 2008 global financial crisis, arguing that the country weathered the international economic storm despite the turmoil engulfing economies around the world.

Sonia Gandhi also claimed that, despite changes in the methodology used to calculate India’s GDP growth, the 10 years of the UPA government recorded higher economic growth than the subsequent 12 years, while millions of people were lifted out of poverty.

She highlighted a series of rights-based and social welfare measures introduced during Singh’s tenure, including the Right to Education, expansion of OBC reservations in centrally funded institutions such as the IITs and IIMs, and the Forest Rights Act, which recognised the ancestral rights of Adivasi and forest-dwelling communities.

She described the MGNREGA as one of the most powerful social security interventions established anywhere, while criticising the Modi government for recently dismantling it.

Another landmark, Sonia Gandhi said, was the National Food Security Act, 2013, which guaranteed access to basic food rations for crores of families. She warned that amendments to the legislation were now being pursued and recalled Singh’s warning, made soon after he left office, that rights-based laws could come under assault.

Sonia Gandhi also credited Singh with ushering in a new era of transparency through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which gave citizens greater access to the workings of government. She alleged that the RTI framework has since been “totally emasculated”.

She further argued that Singh’s years in office saw an explosion of independent media and a vibrant civil society, with citizens and students able to protest against the government and even the prime minister.

In another criticism of the Modi government, Sonia Gandhi said students once had the freedom to demonstrate without facing the kind of force she alleged is now used against protesters.

She also highlighted Singh’s engagement with Parliament and the media, saying the former prime minister regularly made himself accountable through more than 100 unscripted press conferences.

Among Singh’s defining achievements, Sonia Gandhi placed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, describing it as a landmark agreement that overturned decades of nuclear discrimination and denial against India and marked the country’s arrival on the global stage. She credited Singh’s political courage and sustained initiative for making the agreement possible.

Sonia Gandhi concluded that the allegations that had once been levelled against Singh’s integrity had been exposed as “mischievous and indefensible”, and that his record was increasingly being recognised as one of economic, political and social advancement.

She expressed regret that Singh was not alive to witness the Supreme Court verdict and offer his counsel, but said there was solace in seeing his prediction from January 2014 increasingly borne out.

Singh, who died on December 27, 2024, had spent a decade as prime minister between 2004 and 2014.

The Supreme Court’s latest intervention brought the criminal proceedings against him to a close by setting aside the summoning order issued against the former prime minister. With the apex court’s ruling, the veteran Congress leader now stands formally cleared in the high-profile coal block allocation case.

For Sonia Gandhi, the verdict not only closes a long-running legal chapter but also strengthens the argument that Singh’s legacy should be judged through the lens of his governance, reforms and public integrity rather than the allegations that shadowed his final years in office.

“History will indeed remember him kindly,” Sonia Gandhi said, describing Singh as a “quiet, gentle but a most consequential prime minister.”

With PTI inputs