Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated on Thursday that since everything in the nation is going so well, he views the Black Paper—which the Congress released to highlight the performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party government during its previous 10-year rule—as a “Kaala Teeka.” During his farewell speech to retiring Rajya Sabha members, including his predecessor Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister made these statements.
“When a child gets ready for some good occasion by wearing some nice clothes, then a family member says to go after applying a Kaala Teeka, to ward off an evil eye. Today, as the country is touching new heights of prosperity over the last ten years, an attempt has been made today to put a Kaala Teeka, so that no one can cast an evil eye on it. I thank Kharge Ji a lot for (bringing a Black Paper),” PM Modi said.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress, had earlier in the day released the “Black Paper,” which detailed the purported “failures” of the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s ten years in power at the Centre. The Black Paper was released just as the central government was preparing to release a “White Paper” that would demonstrate how the nation’s economy had fallen into one of the “fragile five” during the ten years of the prior UPA government, which was led by the Congress (2004–14). Kharge stated that the Black Paper includes information about the BJP government’s shortcomings, including unemployment, when he unveiled it.
“We are releasing a Black Paper against the government because the government always glorifies itself in Parliament and hides its failures. And when we say something about their failure, we are not given a chance, so today we are bringing out the Black Paper here. It contains details about unemployment, which the BJP government never discusses,” the Congress chief said in a press briefing.
Referring to PM Modi’s 90-minute reply to the Motion of Thanks on President’s Address in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Kharge said, “He (PM Modi) didn’t mention the employment generated by the public sectors like HAL, BHEL which were established during Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s tenure.”
According to Kharge, the Centre ignores and discriminates against all states that are not ruled by the BJP. The nation’s democracy is in jeopardy… The BJP has removed 411 MLAs from office in the last ten years. They overthrew so many governments led by Congress. The president of the Congress declared, “They are finishing democracy,” intensifying his criticism of the Center.
