NEW DELHI : A ‘white’ vs ‘black’ war dominated Indian politics Thursday with the government and the opposition releasing competing factsheets on the condition of the economy during the 10 years of the Congress-led UPA and the past decade, during which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP has been in power. The trading of papers comes weeks before a general election, with each side jostling for top-of-mind recall when nearly 95 crore Indians head to the polls in April/May.
Sources said every state unit of the party will raise awareness on the white paper. From efficient tax collection to reforms such as solvency code, emphasis on self reliance will be talked about at length. The White Paper will be discussed in parliament tomorrow, when the Congress is expected to come up with a strong rebuttal. Ahead of the White Paper, the party had presented a “Black Paper” targeting the Centre.
The UPA government had “inherited a healthy economy but made it non-performing in 10 years,” the Centre said in its comparative White Paper on the 10 years of the UPA and the decade under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In an all-out attack on the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Centre accused the UPA government, which went out of office in 2014, of leaving behind “an unenviable legacy of a structurally weaker economy and a pervasive atmosphere of despondency”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lavished praise on Congress stalwart and his predecessor Manmohan Singh this morning, declaring him an “inspiration” and “pray(ing) he lives long and keeps guiding us”.
Hours later, the government released a white paper comparing the state of the economy during the 10 years of Mr Singh’s UPA government and Mr Modi’s NDA administration, and slammed the former’s “lack of leadership” that “came out in full public glare, in shameful public tearing-up of an ordinance”.
The reference was to 2013, when Congress MP Rahul Gandhi tore up a piece of paper to signal his rejection of an ordinance – passed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh – overturning a rule that disqualified convicted MPs and MLAs. The Congress eventually scrapped the ordinance.
In its white paper – which holds the Congress responsible for transforming the “healthy” economy it inherited from the Vajpayee government into a “non-performing” one presented to the Modi administration – the BJP made repeated mention to “weak” leadership when the UPA was in power. The paper does not, however, mention Manmohan Singh by name, except for defining the term ‘UPA government’ as that led by him.
That does not, though, stop the BJP from attacking Mr Singh’s government in a fierce and systematic manner, calling it out for making the world “lose confidence in India’s economic potential” and foisting on the economy a number of corruption scandals, including the 2G and Coalgate scams.
Calling it a “lost decade”, the White Paper tabled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in parliament this evening, said the UPA had left a trail of economic mismanagement and “short-sighted handling of the public finances… and undermining the macroeconomic foundations”.The government abandoned the principles that brought about the economic liberalisation. There was economic mismanagement and financial indiscipline, and there was widespread corruption, the Centre has said, slamming the Manmohan Singh government on a day he finishes his Rajya Sabha tenure.
Earlier today PM Nrendra  Modi, bidding farewell to retiring parliamentarians, recalled an instance when Manmohan Singh arrived in a wheelchair to cast his vote for a key legislation.”I remember during the voting in the House, it was known that the treasury bench would win but Dr Manmohan Singh came on his wheelchair and cast his vote. This an example of a member being alert of his duties. He was an inspirational example,” he said.
Meanwhile, Congress president  Mallikarjun Kharge, releasing the 54-page ‘black paper’, indicated opposition had released it because “when we speak about failures of the government it is not given importance”.”Whenever PM presents his views in Parliament, he hides his failures. Therefore, we thought of bringing out a ‘black paper’ (to) tell the public about the failures of the government,” he said.
Kharge document – a ‘black paper’ titled ’10 saal anyay kaal’, or ’10 years of an unjust rule’ – in which it flagged issues such as the cost of living crisis, rising unemployment, and the subversion of institutions, including the judiciary and the press.The document also pointed to protests by farmers – which made headlines in 2020/21 after violent clashes with security personnel, and again this morning – that have “plagued” the country.
“The Modi government is silent on price rise… prices of petrol, diesel and daily essentials has reached record levels,” Mr Kharge told reporters. He also pointed to the “disastrous” demonetisation of 2016, the caste census row, and crimes against women.
The Congress boss also said the “failures” of the Modi government over the past 10 years reflected a period of “injustice” and “discrimination” against states not ruled by the PM’s BJP.
“In 2004, when the UPA government began its term, the economy was growing at 8 per cent (with industry and services sector growth above 7 per cent each and a resuscitating agriculture sector growth above 9 per cent in FY04) amidst a benign world economic environment,” read the 50-page White Paper.The White Paper said the average annual inflation rate between 2004 and 2014 was around 8.2% and accused the UPA of doing nothing to contain the high inflation.
A section of the White Paper was devoted to scams the UPA government was accused of – the 2G scam and Aircel-Maxis cases in the telecom sector, coal block allocations, Commonwealth Games, Saradha chit fund, INX Media Case, the irregularities during the Commonwealth games and Augusta Westland Helicopter Scam and the Hawk Aircraft Purchase in the Defence sector.
“The government will never say how many people got jobs. They are releasing MNREGA funds. They are discriminating against states,” Mr Kharge said, slamming the government for perpetually targeting the Congress.
“Despite being in power for 10 years, instead of talking about himself, he only criticises the Congress party. Even today he did not talk about price rise, unemployment and economic inequality?” Mr Kharge said. “‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ is only to spread LIES!” he added, citing the huge campaign undertaken by the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due in summer.
(Bureau Report with Media Inputs).

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Save