5 takeaways from Manmohan Singh's first interview after demitting office

For the last year-and-a-half, Dr Manmohan Singh has been watching the political scene unfold before his eyes from his rambling Lutyens' bungalow in the heart of Delhi. The former prime minister looked on with fair dismay when the government he headed for ten long years was unceremoniously voted out of office and the Narendra Modi-led regime took its place.

In this first exclusive interview, with Jyoti Malhotra of India Today magazine, since he demitted office (he has spoken only once before, on TV, in the wake of former president Dr Abdul Kalam's death), Dr Singh speaks freely on a wide variety of subjects. He feels Modi should remember that he is the prime minister of all of India.

Here are some statements of the former prime minister from the interview that stand out:

1. The PM talks about "vikas" but in the growth rate there is no significant difference from when we left power.

2. The economy is not in as good shape as it could be, despite the fact that the situation today is much more favourable than it was when we, the Congress-led UPA, were in government.

3. Obviously, people don't believe the (Modi) government... There is today a crisis of confidence in the government.

4. Pakistan made promises it didn't keep... The question is, how is the Modi government responding? Whatever your views on Pakistan, our effort was that we have to engage Pakistan. They are our neighbours. We can choose our friends, but we cannot choose our neighbours. But the Modi government has been inconsistent. 

5. The public in our country expects the prime minister to take the lead in managing public opinion. But he has never spoken; whether it is on the beef problem or whether it is what happened in Muzaffarnagar or elsewhere, he has kept quiet.

Read the full interview here.