Shocking Stat: Manmohan Singh – 117, Modi – 0

The passing of former prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh has come as a deep wide in the Indian political scene. Though Manmohan Singh was not the most vocal of prime ministers, he is the last Prime Minister of the country to have nurtured the positive culture of addressing the press.

During his tenure as the prime minister of the country that lasted 10 years between 2004 to 2014, Dr. Singh addressed a mighty 117 press conferences. This showed his desire to exhibit transparency and accountability as the prime minister of the country. He fearlessly answered most questions raised by the media, which was lacking in his predecessors and successor.

In sharp contrast, the incumbent prime minister of the country Narendra Modi had not addressed a single press conference in 10 years. He called for one press conference in 2019, and this too was addressed by his colleague, Amit Shah.

Manmohan Singh is regarded as one of the transparent politicians in the country, which is a rare honour. Out of the 117 pressers, 72 were on foreign trips, 10 were annual pressers, 23 were during domestic or state visits and 12 pertaining to elections.

View of the passing of the former prime minister, India has announced a mourning period of seven days. The country now bids farewell to one of its misunderstood, political stalwarts who fondly noted “history will be kinder to me”.