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Manmohan's daughter putting together everything he said in 10 years
Author Daman Singh, daughter of
former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Saturday said she failed to
understand why people label her father as "silent" and revealed she was
coming up with a collection of "everything" he said in the last 10
years.
"One of the comments that comes up over and over again is
'what a silent man he is'. This is something which I have not really
understood completely.
"These days, I am putting together a
collection of everything my father said in the last 10 years," Daman
Singh said at a discussion on her book "Strictly Personal: Manmohan and
Gursharan" at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here.
The book traces the journey of the former prime minister and his wife from the 1930s to 2004.
Describing
the contents of the collection, Daman said it includes his speeches --
both extempore and prepared -- as well as records of his interactions
with the media.
"There are about 800 speeches which run into
about 5,000 pages. These are both extempore and prepared speeches on all
sorts of occasions. They also include about 80 interactions with the
members of the media in which people were absolutely free to ask him
whatever they wished.
"These are both in India and abroad, on all
kinds of occasions. There is a record of all the questions and there is
a record of all the answers," Daman Singh said.
Defending her father, she said Manmohan Singh always answered queries from the media during his travels in India and abroad.
"So
I should also point out that every time my father travelled, he always
had a team of media people who accompanied him. He always had many press
conferences, either on the way in or on the way out.
"Honestly, I don't really understand why people label him as silent," she said.