Manmohan Singh: Former PM says India situation ‘grim and morose’

GBNEWS24 DESK//

Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh has warned of “social disharmony, economic slowdown and a global health epidemic” facing the country.

“The current situation is very grim and morose,” he wrote in a sharply critical op-ed in The Hindu newspaper.

The article comes in the wake of the most violent riots to take place in capital, Delhi, in decades.

Mr Singh also referred to slowing growth and the possibility of a coronavirus outbreak.

More than 50 Indians have died in recent religious riots sparked by clashes over a controversial citizenship law in Delhi.

“The India that we know and cherish is slipping away fast. Wilfully stoked communal tensions, gross economic mismanagement and an external health shock are threatening to derail India’s progress and standing,” Mr Singh wrote.

He said he worried deeply that “this potent combination of risks may not only rupture the soul of India but also diminish our global standing as an economic and democratic power in the world”.

Mr Singh, who belongs to the main opposition Congress party, was the prime minister from 2004 to 2014.