Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley describes Manmohan Singh as a "syana aadmi" [a wise man], saying, with an element of scholarship, the Prime Minister's personal integrity was always above board. “He will remain an elder statesman and a man of credibility to guide the nation,” wrote in a blog post.
TIMELINE
“He was literally a Prime Minister announced by Sonia ji. He had to function within that limitation.”
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"He will remain an elder statesman and a man of credibility to guide the nation. Only if he had stood up at the right time and disagreed he would have been regarded with still a greater honor."
- Arun Jaitley, BJP leader
Centre STAGE
“There were two strong qualities of Prime Minister that I discovered. Firstly, whenever you discussed a serious subject with the Prime Minister he came out as a man of scholarship. He was what we call to as “a Syana aadmi”. His words were measured and he would reflect before making a comment. Secondly, his personal integrity was always above board. With an element of scholarship he was always be well read and well prepared on any subject that he dealt with.”
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“He did not have the last word. Had he overruled his Finance Minister on the retrospective tax law knowing fully well the consequences of a retrospective taxation, the Prime Minister would have stood out. If he had stood up and cancelled the Coal Blocks allocation once the fraud was revealed or cancelled the 2G licenses himself rather than wait for the Court to do it I have no doubt that history would have recorded him very differently. It was the inability to speak up within his own party that may compel the historians to take a different view of the man.”
- Arun Jaitley, BJP leader
BOTTOMLINE
“If he were to write his memoirs and I will always want to read the chapter which deals with 1991-96 period.”
- Arun Jaitley, BJP leader