There is crisis of confidence in govt: Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, Feb 12: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said there is a crisis of confidence in the government and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must give "every Indian" the confidence that he cares for people's well-being.

Singh was critical of the prime minister for not speaking on issues like beef or communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and elsewhere.

Stating that "people don't believe the government", the former prime minister said, "when they (apparently industrialists) go and call on the ministers, they say the right things, but when they come out, all of them say that nothing much has changed... There is today a crisis of confidence in the government." Singh said beef controversy and issues like intolerance were problems. "I don't know.

I cannot read his mind. But he is the prime minister of all the people of India and he must give every Indian the confidence that in him we have a prime minister who cares for our well-being," he told India Today.

Reacting to his remarks, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the criticism was "misplaced" while adding that the Modi government had launched a host of schemes like Mudra and Jan Dhan besides other welfare measures for the downtrodden and weaker sections of society.

"Singh is very welcome. He advised the prime minister to be PM for all India and I will like to say that Modi's campaign was 'sabka saath, sabka vikas' (with all, development for all) and he is very clearly fulfilling this," the BJP leader said.

PTI