 "Mallikarjun Kharge")
The Congress on Thursday released a “black paper”listing the “failures” of the Narendra Modi government, flagging “discrimination” and “injustice” that the Centre had meted out to state governments that the Congress and other regional parties run.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge unveiled the 54-page black paper at 10.30 am, hours before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the government’s white paper in the Parliament. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, the PM described the black paper as a kaala tika that will ward off the evil eye on the achievements of his government.
The black paper, titled ‘10 saal anyaya kaal’, accused the government of failing to deal with farmers’ distress, rising prices, unemployment, and perpetrating “economic catastrophes”, such as demonetisation and a “flawed” goods and services tax (GST).
The Congress “chargesheet” said the government subverted institutions, crimes against women have increased and committed “grave injustices against minorities in the country”. It said cooking gas prices were double than the UPA years despite low oil prices. It said the government betrayed Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes by privatising government jobs. It questioned the government for not collecting data, including postponing Census, which was supposed to take place in 2013.
In the Rajya Sabha, while bidding farewell to retiring members, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the PM lauded his predecessor’s contribution. “Whenever our democracy will be discussed, he will be one of those few esteemed members whose contribution will always be remembered,” Modi said.
The black paper accused the government of pursuing policies that helped “chosen friends” at the expense of small and medium enterprises, its “over-reliance on failed jumlas (slogans)” and “faked data" and “neglect of public sector”.
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At a press conference, Kharge defended the Congress' claim that the Centre has done "injustice" to the southern states in the devolution of central funds. On Wednesday, the PM accused the Congress of shaping narratives to divide the country into north and south. Kharge sought to remind Modi of his years as the Gujarat chief minister.
"Modi ji, when you were the chief minister of Gujarat, you used to talk about Gujarat's tax rights with the UPA government. Then you said that states should get a 50 per cent tax. You also said that people of Gujarat pay Rs 48,600 crore tax and get only 2.5 per cent back," Kharge said.
The Congress president said non-BJP ruled states, such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, were being discriminated against and neglected. "They (Centre) don't release funds and then say we have released them, but they were not spent. They purposely stall work, and this is a big conspiracy of the BJP," he said.
Kharge alleged the Modi government was "extorting" money through electoral bonds. "They are using this money to finish democracy. They made 411 MLAs cross over to their side. We had elected governments in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand. You know how governments were made to fall," he said.
The Congress president said it was Modi's guarantee to provide 20 million jobs. Now, the prime minister should say he could not do it. Instead, he has come up with new guarantees, Kharge said. The 'black paper' alleged that India has become an "electoral autocracy". The document criticised handling the Manipur issue and the border situation with China.
