Manmohan: Kartarpur move good but hurdles remain

NEW DELHI: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh welcomed the government’s move to open the Kartarpur Sahib corridor but said there were challenges ahead that needed to be tackled before this could be implemented.

“There are many hurdles and one should not underestimate those hurdles. But any beginning is a good beginning, I hope it is successful,” Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day seminar on ‘Peace, Harmony and Happiness: Transition to Transformation’ organised by the Pranab Mukherjee Foundation.

Addressing the audience on the concluding day, the former PM also said that major institutions in the country were facing many challenges. “The deterioration of the institutions adversely affects the functioning of various organs of the state and in eroding their credibility. Such a situation can create chaos in society, economy and polity. A nation without well-functioning institutions is bound to fail,” Singh said in an apparent reference to the very public display of differences between the central bank and the CBI. “When institutions fall prey to extra-constitutional powers and no state actors, there is a risk of violence entering the process or transition, he said.

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Guru Nanak and the poet Iqbal, the former PM said they have each emphasised peace and communal harmony. Singh also said that a person’s state of mind and happiness are not independent of the socio-cultural, religious, economic and political environment. “In the Indian context it is all the more complex as India represents an ancient civilisation and a composite culture. The very idea of India is revolving around ‘unity in diversity’ and ‘diversity in unity’,” Singh said.

In a veiled attack on BJP government, of which Singh has been critical before, he said, “There are certain forces that are taking advantage of such diversity and pose a threat to the unity of the country.”