New Delhi, July 8: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday said Time magazine’s criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s handling of the government and the economy had “reconfirmed” the views of people on the UPA government.

Reacting to Time magazine terming Singh an “underachiever” who appeared “unwilling to stick his neck out” on economic reforms, BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay said the magazine has “reconfirmed what all Indians have felt”.

Another party spokesperson, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said all that the Prime Minister had achieved “is corruption, scams and bad governance”.

Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, Naqvi said the magazine “should actually have termed the Prime Minister as the most important man in the world as there is no Prime Minister like him who is the most faithful to the most corrupt government. A Prime Minister that projects himself as honest and faithful representative of a government that is shrouded by corruption and scams. So he definitely is not an achiever, and even if he is an achiever, all that he has achieved is corruption, scam and bad governance.”

The magazine features Manmohan Singh on the cover of its Asia edition dated July 16, 2012 with the blurb: “The Underachiever. India needs a reboot. Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh up to the job?”

The cover story, titled A Man in Shadow, says: “Investors at home and abroad are beginning to get cold feet. Voters too are losing confidence, as rising inflation and a litany of scandals chip away at the government's credibility.”

However, Sharad Yadav, the Janata Dal-United president and convenor of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), did not share the BJP’s views.

Commenting on the Time article, Sharad Yadav said: “What is Time magazine?.. What relation do they have with us? Like the East India Company, they also aim to loot us.” (IANS)