Modi first PM to 'lower dignity' of public discourse: Manmohan Singh
New Delhi (PTI): In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday accused him of lowering the dignity of public discourse and the gravity of the office of the PM by giving "hateful speeches" during the poll campaign.
In an appeal to voters of Punjab ahead of the seventh-phase of Lok Sabha polls on June 1, Singh asserted that only the Congress can ensure growth-oriented progressive future where democracy and Constitution will be safeguarded.
The senior Congress leader also hit out at the BJP government for imposing an "ill-conceived" Agniveer scheme on the armed forces.
"The BJP thinks that the value of patriotism, bravery and service is only four years. This shows their fake nationalism," he said in a letter to voters of Punjab.
Mounting an attack on Modi, Singh said, "I have been keenly following the political discourse during this election campaign. Modi ji has indulged in the most vicious form of hate speeches, which are purely divisive in nature. Modi ji is the first prime minister to lower the dignity of public discourse, and thereby the gravity of the office of the prime minister.
"No prime minister in the past has uttered such hateful, unparliamentary and coarse terms, meant to target either a specific section of the society or the opposition. He has also attributed some false statements to me. I have never in my life singled out one community from the other. That is the sole copyright of the BJP," the former prime minister said.
Modi had accused Singh of saying that Muslims have the first right on the country's resources.
Singh said people of India are seeing through all of this. "This narrative of dehumanisation has now reached its peak. It is now our duty to save our beloved nation from these forces of discord," Singh said in the letter.
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Family-run burglary gang busted in Thane; 3 arrested, 2 minors detained
Thane (PTI): Two men and a teen have been arrested and their minor sons detained for allegedly carrying out a series of house break-ins and burglaries in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Sunday.
Earlier this week, the Mahatma Phule Chowk (MFC) police in Kalyan busted a family-run burglary ring in which the men scouted for locked houses and directed their sons to break in and steal valuables, a senior police official said.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kalyan) Ashok Honmane said that the police have arrested a 19-year-old man, two fathers and detained two minors, and recovered stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 21.6 lakh.
The matter came to light following a complaint lodged on May 8 in Kalyan West, following which a case of housebreaking and theft was subsequently registered, he said.
Acting on tip-offs, the police arrested Kailas Vilas Bhalerao (19), a resident of Mohane in Ambivali, on May 13, and detained two minors aged 14 and 15 years, the official said.
"Interrogation revealed that the fathers, Vilas Prakash Bhalerao (38) and Deepak Ashok Jadhav (40), used their daily jobs to recce houses in residential societies and would then pass on this specific information to their children," he said.
The arrested teen accused would target the houses along with the minors and decamp with cash and jewellery.
Investigations have revealed that the gang was involved in at least three other burglaries in the Kalyan area, the official said.
