New Delhi, Apr 18 (Zee News): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hit back at former prime minister Manmohan Singh after the latter asked PM Narendra Modi to 'speak up' over the recent cases of crime and law and order issues. Attacking Singh, "PM Modi spoke strongly on rape incidents terming them shameful and inhuman. Dr Manmohan Singh unlike your observation, when PM Modi says something it's heard and action is taken. Please Dr Manmohan Singh, don't compare your days with that of Modi Ji's," union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday.

The remark comes after Singh on Wednesday asked Modi to "follow his own advice" to him and "speak more often". In an interview to The Indian Express, Singh had said: "I think the Prime Minister should follow his own advice to me and he should speak more often. Through press (reports), I know that he used to criticise me for not speaking up. I feel that the advice that he used to give me, he should follow it himself."

Hitting out at the PM, Singh had said that Modi's failure to speak gave the people a chance to think that they could get away with anything would any action being taken against them. He added that he was glad that the PM broke his silence and assured that "daughters of India" will get justice.

He accused the Centre of turning a blind eye to law and order issues in the country just a year before the general elections in 2019. "People are misusing the authority of government. They think they can get away with it…law and order is the responsibility of state governments. The BJP government at the Centre could send instructions to its state governments to ensure that law and order is properly enforced, and minorities and Dalits and women are treated properly," he said.