New Delhi: Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the NDA government has been attacking the informal sector over the past 6 years and asserted that the aim of demonetisation, “wrong” Goods and Services Tax (GST) and lockdown is to destroy this sector.
Video series
His remark came in the first video of his new series on “how the Modi government has destroyed Indian economy” released today.
“The unfortunate truth of the economic tragedy that the country is facing will be confirmed today: For the first time in 40 years, the Indian economy is in a huge recession. ‘Asatyagrahi’ are blaming God for this. Watch my video to find out the truth,” he tweeted.
Asatyagrahi
Gandhi used the word ‘Asatyagrahi’ apparently as a jibe at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for referring COVID-19 pandemic as an “act of God”.
“The BJP government has attacked the informal structure. There is an attempt to turn you into a slave… The BJP government has been attacking the informal sector over the past 6 years. I am giving you three massive examples right now- Demonetisation, wrong GST and lockdown. Don’t think the lockdown was unplanned. Don’t think it was done at the last minute. The aim of these three decisions was to destroy our informal sector,” he said in the video.
The former Congress chief said that till the time the country’s informal sector is strong, no economic storm can touch India.
Informal sector
The Congress leader alleged the informal sector has a lot of money which the government can’t touch so they want to break this sector and extort this money from them.
“The effects of this attack on the informal sector will be seen soon. The results will be that India won’t be able to produce jobs because the informal sector produces 90 per cent of the jobs. Once the informal sector is destroyed India won’t be able to produce jobs,” he said.
“You are the ones who run this country. You take us forward and there is a conspiracy against you. You are being cheated and there is an attempt to turn you into slaves. We have to understand this attack and the entire country has to unite to fight against this,” he added.
Economic crisis
The Congress leader said that India remains unaffected from the economic crisis in 2008 when Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre.
“In 2008, the world was hit by an economic storm. It affected the entire world, the US, Japan, China, everywhere. In the US banks fell, corporations fell and companies shut down, in Europe also banks fell, but India was unaffected. India had a UPA government at that time,” the Congress MP said.
He recalled his conversation with then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the issue.
“There was a UPA government. I went to the Prime Minister a little surprised and I asked him, Dr Manmohan Singh, tell me, do you understand these things? There has been an economic loss in the whole world but there has been no effect on India. What is the reason?” he asked.
“Manmohan Singh ji said that if Rahul wants to understand the economy of India, then he has to understand that there are two economies in India, the first is the unorganised economy and the second is the organised economy,” he said.
“You know the names of big companies in organised, farmers, workers, small shopkeepers, middle size companies in the unorganised system. You know the big companies which constitute the formal sector. The informal sector comprises of farmers, labourers, MSMEs. Till the time India’s informal sector is strong, no economic storm can touch India,” he added.
Media management
He said that the Prime Minister needs the media and marketing to run the government. “This media management and marketing is done by 15-20 people,” he said.
Earlier in a similar format, the Congress leader held a series of discussions with experts including former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee on issues related to corona pandemic and its impact on the economy.