Modi’s ‘infiltrators’ remarks row: Many papers skip mention of what Manmohan Singh said in 2006

A massive row has erupted following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that the Congress wanted to redistribute private wealth among Muslims, even “mangalsutras”, and that the Manmohan Singh government had said Muslims have the first right to the country’s assets.

The remarks made it to the big headlines of all prominent dailies. And while all newspapers gave ample space to the Congress’s remarks denying the PM’s claims about its manifesto, most did not carry a fact-check on what Manmohan Singh’s government had actually said.

It’s not the first time that the BJP or PM Modi have targeted the Congress using the former PM’s statement. So before we look at the media coverage, let’s look at PM Modi’s remarks in Banswara and what Manmohan Singh had said in 2006.

What the two PMs said

“Earlier, when their (Congress) government was in power, they had said that Muslims have the first right on the country's assets. This means to whom will this property be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have more children. It will be distributed to the infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of this?” PM Modi said.

Modi also claimed that the Congress wanted to redistribute women’s ornaments among “infiltrators”, in an attempt to target the party’s campaign aimed at tackling growing inequality. He linked the mangalsutra to “dignity”, saying that it wasn’t just about wealth.

The Congress denied Modi’s claims and called them hate speech. While the party dared PM Modi to show any paragraph in its manifesto that speaks about distribution of wealth among Muslims, it made no mention of Manmohan Singh’s original statement.

In December 2006, then PM Manmohan Singh had issued a clarification on a “deliberate and mischievous misinterpretation” of his remarks at a meeting of the National Development Council on the government’s fiscal priorities. 

According to the then Prime Minister’s Office, Singh had said, “I believe our collective priorities are clear: agriculture, irrigation and water resources, health, education, critical investment in rural infrastructure, and the essential public investment needs of general infrastructure, along with programmes for the upliftment of SC/STs, Other Backward Classes, minorities, and women and children.

“The component plans for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will need to be revitalised. We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources. The Centre has a myriad other responsibilities whose demands will have to be fitted within the overall resource availability.”

The PMO had said that it was clear from the statement above that Singh’s reference to “first claim on resources” refers to all the “priority” areas listed above, including programmes for the upliftment of SCs, STs, OBCs, women and children and minorities.

However, the remarks have often been quoted by BJP leaders across the years. Last year, in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, Modi had repeated the claim.

The missing fact-check

Manmohan Singh’s original remarks and the clarification found no mention in the Times of India’s Delhi edition. 

The first paragraph of the lead story on the front page said, “PM Modi on Sunday drew a link between the party’s manifesto and Manmohan Singh’s 2006 statement that minorities have the first right to India’s resources”. It put a paragraph on Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks calling Modi’s remarks as hate speech on the front page, but a detailed copy on page 11 had no mention of Singh’s original remarks either. 

The paper, however, gave space to Congress leaders’ statements on the party’s manifesto.

Meanwhile, the most read Hindi daily, Dainik Jagran, skipped any mention of Singh’s original remarks and his clarification. So did Amar Ujala.

Among those that tried to offer a fact-check on what Singh actually said was papers such as Indian Express and Hindustan Times.

In a report on page 8, the the Hindustan Times noted, “While it was not clear what specific comment Modi referred to, a 2006 PMO clarification available on the archives showed that the government at the time had clarified that the former PM Singh had said that all underprivileged sections needed to be uplifted and therefore had the first right to resources.”

The Indian Express, in the front page report that spilled over onto the second page, noted Singh’s remarks as well as his clarification. It pointed out that the Congress “did not comment on Manmohan Singh’s remarks”.

The Hindu noted that the Congress dared the BJP to show proof about the party seeking to redistribute private wealth among Muslims, but did not mention Singh’s remarks. It carried the Congress’s remarks as the lead report on the fourth page.

The Telegraph, on the fourth page, noted that the Congress manifesto has “no reference to the Congress taking away people’s wealth, let alone mangalsutras as claimed by Modi”.