Rahul Gandhi accuses Modi govt of ceding territory, tech & manufacturing space to China; proposes new development paradigm

New Delhi: Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of conceding not just territorial but tech and manufacturing space to China and outlined an architecture for a new development paradigm to snatch the production network from Beijing to enable youth to take advantage of the 'mobility' revolution.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in Lok Sabha, he said this new paradigm also involve the increased participation of lower castes, OBCs, Dalits and tribals in governing the country determined through a Caste Census and safeguarding the Constitution for a "determined defence" of India's institutions.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha also claimed that around 70 lakh people, equivalent to the population of Himachal Pradesh, were added to the electoral rolls in Maharashtra between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections while demanding that the Election Commission furnish data to the opposition.

Describing the President's Address as the “same laundry list” of yesteryears, he said he would like to outline what type of address an I.N.D.I.A. government would have delivered.

Emphasising that neither the UPA government nor the present NDA government were able to tackle unemployment or give a “clear-cut answer” unemployment, he said ‘Make in India’ was a good idea but the Prime Minister “pretty much failed”, as seen from manufacturing in the country falling from 15.3% of the GDP to 12.6%.

Warning that if India does not focus on production and continues to focus only on consumption, he said the country will run huge deficits, increase inequality and lead to further rise in social tension. Every time we use a phone or a Chinese shirt or Chinese sneakers, we are paying a tax to China because some Chinese youngster is earning a salary, he said.

Rahul said four technologies are driving change in mobility -- electric motors, batteries, optics and application of artificial intelligence (AI) and "our entire way of moving is changing and this is going to change every single thing, it is going to change warfare…medical treatment...education...how we eat. It is going to change every single thing".

Insisting that the first thing is to get youth excited about the mobility revolution, he said China has at least a ten-year lead on India in this sector. 

He said the president's address should have told the country's youth  about choosing critical areas in each one of these technologies and start to build capabilities in those areas and then ensure that the banking system is "not captured by two or three companies that basically do not allow you to build a production system".

“We would talk to the youngsters in India and say to them- we want you to be partners in this revolution, we want to change the Indian Banking system, so you can have access to it and we believe in you, we trust in you and we believe you can take on the Chinese,” he said.

Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister, he said India’s foreign policy should take this revolution into account while talking to the US rather than sending the External Affairs Minister to Washington to get an invite for Modi to Donald Trump’s swearing in. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and other BJP MPs objected to the remarks.