Rahul Gandhi Blames China For Job Crisis In India, West In Berlin

(MENAFN- AsiaNet News)

'Handed over' production to China

Claiming that India and the West have "handed over" the production of goods to China, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Made in China goods have crippled job creation in democracies, fuelling political turbulence across India, the United States and Europe. Addressing an event at Hertie School in Berlin, Germany, Rahul Gandhi called for production in a democratic environment, arguing that democracy is required to sustain itself by producing goods.

Gandhi said, "The West and to an extent India, have handed over production to the Chinese. China dominates production today, which means that it is difficult to give employment to a large number of people. Countries like India, the US and Germany cannot give their employment based on services. How do democracies produce in this transition? What are the models that are required, how do you think about production in a democratic environment, and what are the types of partnerships that India, the US and Europe can create for production? It will become very difficult for democracy to sustain itself if we are not able to produce."

"A huge part of the turbulence that we are seeing in Europe, India and the US, polarisation of politics, is because we are not able to give our people jobs, which is because we said: China, you produce for the world," he added.

Rahul Gandhi flagged Made in China goods selling in India, and said that New Delhi has "capability, cost structure and population" to produce goods but has not done it yet. "Everything that you see is made in China, and that, at least for a country like India, is a problem. We have the capability, cost structure and population to produce, but we have just not done it," he said.

US Hegemony 'Challenged Effectively'

Further, the Congress leader said that US' hegemony is being challenged "effectively," claiming that Washington DC is "struggling internally."

"We are in the middle of a socio-economic-political transition that is taking place. In India, we benefited greatly from the hegemony of the US from the 1990s till about 2014. We had tremendous advantages as we built a relationship, a partnership with them," Gandhi stated.

"We lived in a unipolar world, where the US had its shortcomings and made mistakes, but it defined the rules and structure. For the first time, that hegemony is being challenged effectively. We are seeing a dramatic reduction in American power across the spectrum: militarily, economically, and financially. A challenge is being posed to the US dollar and the financial system. The US is struggling internally and almost walking away from its earlier position," the Congress leader added.

BJP refutes claims of manufacturing decline

Rahul Gandhi is on a five-day visit to Germany. His remarks come after he had claimed that manufacturing in India is declining. During his visit to the BMW World museum in Munich, Germany, on December 17, he said, "Manufacturing is the backbone of strong economies. Sadly, in India, manufacturing is declining. For us to accelerate growth, we need to produce more - build meaningful manufacturing ecosystems, and create high-quality jobs at scale."

However, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari refuted the Lok Sabha LoP's claim, calling it "fake news" against India's growth story. The BJP Spokesperson, in an X post, claimed 495 per cent growth in total electronics manufacturing in the last 10 years, with exports growing by 760 per cent, and a 14 times increase in the automobile manufacturing since 1991. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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