Black money case in SC's court now: Modi stumps Congress yet again

Prime Minister

did it again and the

lost the plot yet again. The Centre's submission of the list featuring 627 names of those having black-money stashed abroad to the Supreme Court in a closed envelope meant that the Congress lost one of its main weapons against the Modi government.

After the Centre's move, how long will the Congress be able to criticise the government on an issue which has remained one of the most spoken-about in Indian politics till today but with minimum action. The worse factor is the previous government at the Centre led by the Congress faced tremendous pressure from all quarters for failing to take any measure on the issue of black money. And now, with the Modi government making a strategic move of pushing the ball into the apex court's court, the Congress is left virtually with nothing as an Opposition party.

Sources in the Congress said the party is also ruing the fact that the previous government of Manmohan Singh did not act smartly even after getting the list in 2011 but missed a golden opportunity to get rid of the criticism by not placing it before the judiciary. And moreover, the BJP made a perfect use of the dissent which was created in the public space by the agitation conducted by the likes of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev.

The BJP played it better and blunted the Congress's attack. In fact, with the list going to the Supreme Court, all Opposition parties will lose a lethal weapon to attack the rulers in Delhi for time to come. Even the Aam Admi Party will find it a challenge to steal the show in its favour after the Modi government played its part.

The BJP, too, thinks that it could have officially revealed about the list soon after the government formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the black money issue. That could have helped the party miss the ire of the apex court, felt the party.