Politics on forces, judiciary must end, says Manmohan Singh

New Delhi: At a time when the concept of aggressive nationalism was being debated widely, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said that the judiciary and the armed forces should be kept out of “politician’s manipulations and intrigues”.

Delivering the 2nd A.B. Bardhan memorial lecture in the national capital here, Dr Singh said: “The judiciary needs to arrive at its own enlightened view of the custodianship of the Constitution—irrespective of the irresponsible and selfish politicians who have no qualms injecting communal virus in our body politics.

“The same expectation must also be voiced in regards to our armed forces. Our armed forces are a splendid embodiment of out secular project. Our armed forces have a glorious record of keeping away from the politician’s manipulation and intrigues. It is vitally important that the armed forces remain uncontaminated from any sectarian appeal”.

Dr Singh’s presence at the lecture itself gives a quick window to the vast change Indian polity has seen in the last decade. It might be recalled that the then CPI boss Bardhan had — by brushing aside some opposition from within his party leadership — played supporting role to the then CPM chief Prakash Karat’s insistence on the Left withdrawing support to the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-regime in August 2008. In Tuesday speech, Dr Singh mentioned the names of besides Bardhan Left leaders like D Raja and Sitaram Yechury for helping him implement the Common Minimum Programme. He, however, did not mention former CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat, who was behind withdrawal of power to the UPA-I.