Manmohan Singh Vindicated, History Will Remember Him Kindly: Sonia Gandhi On Coal Case Verdict

Published 11 August 2026 · politics

News india Manmohan Singh Vindicated, History Will Remember Him Kindly: Sonia Gandhi On Coal Case Verdict Manmohan Singh Vindicated, History Will Remember Him Kindly: Sonia

News india Manmohan Singh Vindicated, History Will Remember Him Kindly: Sonia Gandhi On Coal Case Verdict Manmohan Singh Vindicated, History Will Remember Him Kindly: Sonia Gandhi On Coal Case Verdict Published By, Last Updated: August 11, 2026, 11:02 IST Sonia Gandhi said Manmohan Singh, who died in December 2024, had been subjected to a prolonged “witch-hunt” despite his record of integrity and accountability. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. File Image Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi said history will “remember kindly" former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, using the Supreme Court’s recent closure of the coal-block allocation case against him to launch a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi government. Sonia Gandhi said Manmohan Singh’s record of “probity and integrity" had been vindicated after years of what she described as a politically motivated campaign against him. In an article published in The Indian Express, Sonia Gandhi described the Supreme Court’s July 29 judgment as an important moment in India’s recent political history.

The top court had set aside a summoning order against Manmohan Singh in the coal-block allocation case and upheld the CBI’s closure report, bringing the criminal proceedings against the former prime minister to an end. Sonia Gandhi said Manmohan Singh, who died in December 2024, had been subjected to a prolonged “witch-hunt" despite his record of integrity and accountability. She recalled Manmohan Singh’s famous 2014 remark that history would be kinder to him than the contemporary media and Opposition parties, saying the prediction was now proving true. “History will indeed remember him kindly as a quiet, gentle but a most consequential prime minister," Sonia Gandhi said. This comes as the Supreme Court on July 29 closed the criminal proceedings against Manmohan Singh in the coal-block allocation case by setting aside a trial court order that had summoned him. Sonia Gandhi said the judgment was particularly significant because the trial court had earlier rejected the closure reports and made adverse observations against Manmohan Singh without what she described as a compelling reason.

Sonia Gandhi argued that Manmohan Singh’s record stood in sharp contrast to the way the Modi government has used central investigative agencies. She accused the government of misusing agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI to exert pressure on political opponents. She alleged that Opposition leaders were either silenced through coercion or brought into the BJP. Sonia Gandhi also accused the government of treating allegations of corruption differently depending on whether politicians were in the Opposition or had joined the BJP. Sonia Gandhi argued that the attacks on Manmohan Singh had diverted public attention from the record of his two-term government.She highlighted economic growth during the UPA years and pointed to initiatives including the Right to Education Act, MGNREGA, the Food Security Act and the Forest Rights Act. She also credited Manmohan Singh with playing a crucial role in the India-US civil nuclear agreement, calling it a landmark achievement that ended decades of nuclear restrictions on India.