BJP on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for justifying fuel price hike, saying his televised address had virtually no commitment but only ‘sermons’ and indicated that the country is moving towards ‘economic emergency’. The main Opposition party also dubbed as ‘eyewash’ the Prime Minister's directive to his ministerial colleagues to cut down their expenses, especially on foreign travel. Alleging that the Prime Minister's address on Wednesday night was more like a ‘condolence address’, BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the country wants a ‘performing’ Prime Minister and not a ‘philosopher’."The 'rote-bilakte' (seemingly helpless) address of the Prime Minister has left the nation aghast. It had more sermons and virtually no commitment," he told reporters in New Delhi. "His (Singh's) speech also contained a veiled threat that the nation must learn to understand the compulsions of the Government," Rudy said. The BJP spokesman said "The track record of the Prime Minister even as a Finance Minister earlier has been synonymous to inflation. Manmohan Singh is now truly ‘Mahangai Singh'," he added. Describing Singh's address a ‘damp squib’, which sounded more ‘pastoral’, he said the unprecedented desire of the Prime Minister to address the nation after taking an administrative decision indicates an impending economic chaos. "The Congress is remembered for imposing a political emergency in the country which till date remains a black chapter and now the PM's speech seems a prelude to an impending economic emergency," Rudy said. Rudy said the increase in prices of petrol and diesel will push inflation to the double digits as it will have a cascading effect on transportation of steel, cement, food grains and edible oil. On the Prime Minister's directive to his cabinet colleagues to resort to austerity measures, the BJP spokesman said, "The UPA government is waking up in its last year of governance. All statements and actions of this government are a simple eyewash." Rudy insisted that the UPA government has lost sanctity and credibility and people will not believe anything now. The former Union Minister said the Prime Minister's statement was contradictory. "On one hand, he (PM) suggests that scarcity and rise in prices of foodgrains globally has resulted in high costs and on the other hand he claims that there is no foodgrain shortage in the country," Rudy said. "The foundation of the Indian economy has been destroyed during the last four years of UPA rule and the economic situation is a virtual nightmare," he said.
