India’s Former Prime Minister Slams Modi for ‘Hateful’ Language

India’s former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh criticized Narendra Modi’s comments on the election campaign trail as divisive and urged voters to cast their ballots against his “despotic regime.”

“No prime minister in the past has uttered such hateful, unparliamentary and coarse terms, meant to target either a specific section of the society or the opposition,” Singh wrote in an open letter released by the Indian National Congress, the country’s main opposition party, on Thursday. Singh retired from politics in March, with the ex-prime minister rarely making direct attacks against Modi.