'Bogus crusade' against Manmohan Singh failed: Sonia Gandhi hits out at BJP-RSS over coal case clean chit

'Bogus crusade' against Manmohan Singh

In an article published in The Indian Express, Gandhi wrote, "The lobby against him was coordinated and well-organised, with actors stretching from the bureaucracy to the media, the judiciary, civil society, and most certainly to the RSS and BJP.

"Today, their bogus crusade has come to its inevitable conclusion of nothingness. Dr Singh has been vindicated on every count."

"The mischievous and indefensible allegations against Dr Manmohan Singh's integrity have been exposed as hollow, and his record as prime minister is increasingly being recognised for what it was — a period of decisive economic, political, and social advancement in Indian history," she added.

Gandhi targets Modi government

Gandhi, who was a close associate of the then Prime Minister, said Singh's "record of integrity and accountability stands in stark contrast to how the Narendra Modi government has operated", accusing the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime of "misusing agencies" to target politicians.

MGNREGA and National Food Security Act

Listing the works accomplished by the then Congress-led UPA government under Singh, Gandhi flagged the MGNREGA scheme, which has now been rebranded as VB-G-RAM G.

“The MGNREGA, recently demolished by the Modi government, was the most powerful social security intervention set up anywhere. During the Covid pandemic, when the whole economy was severely dislocated, MGNREGA was one of two avenues through which the government was able to reach the poor and most vulnerable sections of society.

"The other avenue was yet another signature achievement of Dr Singh’s government — the National Food Security Act, 2013," the former Congress president added.

Manmohan Singh given clean-chit in coal block scam case

The Supreme Court in the last month accepted the closure reports filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), bringing an end to the proceedings against the former Prime Minister.

Singh, who remained the Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014, was given clean chit two years after his demise.

A special judge of the Supreme Court quashed the summoning order in the case pertaining to the alleged irregular allocation of the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha to Hindalco Industries during the Congress-led UPA government.

Dr. Singh was also holding the additional charge of the Coal Ministry at the time the allocation was made.

Background of the Case

A trial court had summoned Dr. Manmohan Singh as an accused in the case in 2015.

He challenged the summons before higher courts.

In 2020, the CBI informed the Delhi court that it had found no prosecutable evidence against Dr. Singh and sought permission to withdraw the case against him.

The Supreme Court has now accepted the closure reports, effectively ending the case against the former prime minister.

Political Significance of Coalgate

The coal block allocation controversy, popularly known as Coalgate, emerged as one of the biggest corruption issues faced by the UPA-II government.

The BJP repeatedly raised the issue in Parliament and made it a major campaign plank during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, alongside the 2G spectrum and Commonwealth Games controversies.

The controversy significantly shaped the political narrative ahead of the 2014 general election.