New Delhi: The Congress on Friday decided to oppose the RCEP agreement that India is likely to sign in Bangkok next month, saying it will prove to be suicidal as the time is not right for a pact which will increase imports from China.
Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the 18-member group of leaders on important issues, senior Congress leaders A.K. Antony, K.C. Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala said the party would launch an agitation across the country along with like-minded parties and form a common platform on the issue.
Top party leaders earlier deliberated on the issue, besides discussing the state of the economy and the crisis in the farming sector. The party also discussed the outcome of the election results in Maharashtra and Haryana and discussed its strategy for the upcoming Parliament session and how to corner the government.
It also decided to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) that the government proposes to bring.
Antony said the issue of economic slowdown is a burning issue that concerns the whole country and all the sections of society.
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“As a party that is always sensitive to the people’s concerns, the Congress is totally opposed to the RCEP negotiations and agreement,” he told reports.
“Our country is heading for a deep economic crisis and slowdown. It affects almost all sectors of the Indian economy. Agriculture, employment, industry and trade and all other sectors of the Indian economy are heading for crisis with each passing day. This is the time for the government to be responsible,” he told reporters.
Antony said it is the duty of the government of the day to concentrate on fully deploying all its resources for a speedy economic revival.
He alleged that the government’s priorities are wrong and it is not concentrating on addressing difficulties of the common people and the sectors of the Indian economy.
When people are struggling even to manage their day-to-day life, instead of speedy solutions and a package and a programme for economic revival, they are now spending time discussing Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, he said.
Another Congress leader K.C. Venugopal said the dangers of the RCEP agreement were discussed. He added that farmers were in distress and it was going to worsen their life, as well as those of fishermen, besides making worse their living conditions.
“The Congress has decided to hold a massive demonstration throughout the country. We have already given instructions to our PCC units to have a massive agitation programme and an awareness campaign about this RCEP agreement,” he said.
“Definitely we will seek the cooperation of like-minded parties and opposition parties to have a common agitation platform against RCEP. The Congress has already given direction to the Pradesh Congress Committees to hold demonstrations between November 5 and 15 on economic slowdown and unemployment.
Also read: India Pursues China-Led RCEP Despite Domestic Reservations
“We will have a massive programme in Delhi while culminating the agitation. We are not going to allow the government to go ahead with this agreement,” Venugopal said.
To a question on RCEP negotiation, Jairam Ramesh said, “texts are negotiated, contexts are given”. He alleged that “national interest” has been removed from the current draft of RCEP.
“When our economy is going through a bad phase, liberalising imports, signing RCEP is a suicide. The economy is sinking and the prime minister is going to sign the RCEP. It will be a mess,” he alleged.
He denied that the Congress had made a U-turn on the issue and said, “signing the RECP is like committing suicide”.
“We are not making any U-turn here. When the UPA government negotiated free trade agreements, the economy was booming. We did not have the economic crisis that we are having today. There was an investment boom, exports were growing. Today, exports are falling, investment is falling, so, the economic context was totally different when UPA negotiated free trade agreements,” he said.
Surjewala said Modi is planning to sign RCEP pact, which will have a lot of consequences for the Indian economy. He said that the country’s trade deficit was USDF 120 billion and if it went ahead with the free trade agreement, it would worsen further.
“After RCEP, China will directly or indirectly sell their cheap goods in large numbers in India and harm our local industries. Also after this, our export of personnel may not be possible in these countries, because they might put them in sensitive list.”
“The Congress feels that RCEP is not in the best interest of our nation. Today, when strengthening the country’s economy should be our goal, it is neither fair nor rational to sign a free trade agreement. It needs to be reconsidered,” Surjewala said.
Ramesh earlier said, “This will be the third blow to our economy after demonetisation and hastily implemented GST.” He expressed fear that the RCEP would liberalise imports from China and encourage “Made in China”.
Also read: How Consultative Has India’s RCEP Strategy Really Been?
He also shared a letter written by the managing director of Amul, Gujarat Cooperative Milk producers.
An 18-member group of leaders, set up by Sonia Gandhi which includes former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi besides other top leaders, met at her 10 Janpath residence to hold discussions on key issues facing the country. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was a last-minute entry in the group, who also attended the meeting.