New Delhi, Mar 5: Rejecting Opposition charge that the farm loan waiver was announced with an eye on elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said it was a historic initiative to meet the "unpaid distress bill" left behind by the erstwhile NDA government.

An unusually aggressive Singh, responding to the debate in the Lok Sabha on President's Address, also brushed aside the Opposition charge that government was resorting to appeasement of minority communities, saying all efforts were towards reducing the "inequality" in opportunities.

In the midst of the tirade, the Prime Minister surprised the Opposition by praising his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee for taking "most courageous" steps to build peace with Pakistan.

"Doubts have been raised about the resources required for this write-off," he said referring to questions raised by Leader of Opposition L K Advani and other members asking the government how it could provide the whopping Rs 60,000 crore towards waiver of bank loans to small and marginal farmers.

"Let me remind the Leader of the Opposition that what we have done is nothing more than picking up the unpaid distress bill which the NDA government left behind," Singh said.

On allegations that the government was trying to appease minorities with different programmes, he said "we are trying to reduce inequalities of opportunities, gaps that exist between region, between classes, between urban and rural areas. This is a part of the process of inclusive growth."