Prime Minister Narendra Modi Attacks Manmohan Singh, Says Only He Knows 'How to Bathe in a Raincoat'

New Delhi: Defending his demonetisation drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked former PM Manmohan Singh on Wednesday, saying, “So many scams but not a stain on him. Only Manmohan Singh knows the art of 'bathing' wearing a raincoat."

Modi was referring to Singh’s ‘clean’ image despite various scams taking place under the previous UPA government. he made the comments while making an address in the Rajya Sabha.

“For almost 35 years, Manmohan Singh had a lot of influence on the country's economic policies," he added.

Singh had described demonetisation as "organised loot" and "legalised plunder". This provoked an angry reaction from Congress members who staged a walkout in the midst of the reply by the Prime Minister to a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address which was later adopted by the House after negation of all the 651 amendments.

While responding to Congress leader Anand Sharma's allegation that a lot of money was spent to push digitisation in the country, he said, "Anand Sharma ji was asking why are you spending crores on Digital tech. Not a single extra penny was spent in development of BHIM app."

Modi, in his over one-hour speech, focussed his attack on Congress and other opposition parties for criticising the demonetisation decision and his push for cash-less economy. He also slammed the Congress for finding faults with lack of proper infrastructure in the country, saying by doing so, they were only presenting their "report card" of 70-year rule.

He said that demonetisation was required to deal with the problems of corruption and terrorism in the country.

“Corruption has adversely impacted the aspirations of the poor and the middle class," he said, adding, “Till when we will keep brushing things under the carpet."

“We will have to be tough on those who are cheating the system. When we do that, the hands of the poor will be strengthened," he said.

He also said that demonetisation has helped in deal with naxalism. “About 700 maoists surrendered after demonetisation and this number is increasing. Shouldn’t this make us happy, if not then there should be some other reason," Modi said.

(With PTI inputs)