The Congress on Tuesday kicked off its 10-day agitation programme against the economic policies of the Modi government and claimed credit for India’s last minute pull out in Bangkok from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement.
“Owing to strong opposition of the Congress in the past 10 days, the Prime Minister was virtually forced to rescind his decision of signing the agreement,” former Union minister and senior Congress leader Rajiv Shukla told reporters at a press conference in Mathura.
As part of the protest, senior party leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Ghulam Nabi Azad, held a press conference highlighting the economic slowdown, unemployment, agrarian distress and rise in bank frauds.
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Chidambaram’s dig
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who is in Tihar jail facing corruption charges, targeted Mr. Modi via social media.
“At Bangkok, the PM spoke about things that are rising and things that are falling in India. The list was incomplete,” Mr. Chidambaram's family tweeted on his behalf.
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“He should have added that investment is falling; core sector growth is falling; credit to industry is falling; consumer demand is falling; and business confidence is falling,” he said.
“He should have also said that unemployment has risen to 8.5% and there are signs that new loans given in the last three years are turning into bad loans,” Mr. Chidambaram added.
The former finance minister’s tweets were in response to Mr. Modi's address to a group of businessmen at Bangkok inviting them to invest in India as red tapism, corruption and cronyism had come down.
But despite the Congress' aggressive stance on the economy, the principal opposition party has had limited success in forging joint programmes with other opposition parties.
“It’s good that the Congress has thought of protest but the Left parties have already been protesting to highlight the situation of our farmers and the working class people,” Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja told The Hindu .
On Monday, leaders of 13 Opposition parties only agreed to a national level common protest during the winter session of Parliament that begins on November 18. But the date for such a common programme is yet to be fixed.