Rahul Gandhi flays Modi government's "Make in India", says it has become "buy from China"

NEW DELHI: After Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi's criticism of the Central government over the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deal, Rahul Gandhi on Friday (November 4) took a dig at the Modi government's "Make in India" programme and said it has become “Buy from China”.

The former Congress president tweeted, "Make in India" has become “Buy from China”. Each year we import Rs. 6,000/ worth of goods from China for every Indian! A 100% increase since 2014. #RCEP will flood India with cheap goods, resulting in millions of job losses & crippling the India economy."

Both the Congress leaders remarks have come at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a three-day visit to Bangkok, where he attended the 16th ASEAN-India Summit on November 3, and the 14th East Asia Summit and the Third RCEP Summit meeting on Friday (November 4).

Opposing the RCEP agreement, Congress said that any trade agreement with China is not feasible in the current economic situation. The party has already said that following this agreement the Indian market will be flooded by foreign goods.

The RCEP is unlikely to be concluded any time in the near future because of lack of consensus among the countries negotiating the free trade agreement.

Notably, the RCEP is a proposed trade pact between the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their six FTA partners, including Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand. The  RCEP is stated to account for 25% of global gross domestic product, 30% of global trade, 26% of foreign direct investment flows, and 45% of the world’s population.