On black dress protest PM Modi tears into Congress with black magic jibe

New Delhi, Aug 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a dig at Congress' recent protest in black clothes, saying some people "are resorting to black magic as they are immersed in despair and negativity".

"We saw on August 5 that there was an attempt to propagate black magic. These people think that by wearing black clothes, their period of despair will end. But they do not know that however much black magic they do, resort to superstition, people's trust on them will never be restored," ANI quoted the Prime Minister as saying in his speech through video conferencing at the inauguration of the second generation (2G) Ethanol Plant in Panipat.

Wearing black clothes, Congress MPs, including former party chief Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in the Parliament House complex on Friday and took out a march towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan as part of their nationwide stir against price rise, the GST hike on essential items and unemployment.

The protesting MPs of the Opposition party raised slogans against the government demanding that the GST hike on essential items be withdrawn, with party chief Sonia Gandhi standing with the women MPs of the party holding a banner outside gate number 1 of Parliament.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, responding to the protest, linked Congress leaders' protest in black clothes over the issues of price rise and unemployment to the party's "appeasement" politics to convey its opposition to the Ram temple foundation laying by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this day in 2020.

Shah said everybody saw protests from Congress leaders of late in regular clothes they wore but they especially chose black clothes for Friday agitation as Modi peacefully resolved an over 550-year dispute which was associated with the faith of crores of people.