Congress opposed to RCEP, plans protest on slowdown

New Delhi, Oct 25 (SocialNews.XYZ) After more than two hours of deliberations under the chairmanship of Congress' Interim President Sonia Gandhi on Friday, the party decided to oppose the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between ten member states of the ASEAN and its six FTA partners, including India and China.

The Congress said it is of the view that RCEP would result in glutting the Indian market with Chinese products, which would not be good for domestic farmers, small traders, dairy industry and fishermen. The party is planning protests from November 5 to 15.

Senior party leader A.K. Antony said: "We would like to confront the government on this issue. We want speedy economic revival. The Congress is opposed to RCEP."

Former Commerce Minister Jairam Ramesh, who attended the meeting, said: "There is a text to the RCEP and there is a context. The text is bad and context is worse. With this agreement, the government cannot revive the economy. In the wake of demonetisation and faulty implementation of GST, this agreement is not going to help the country".

Jairam asserted that while the UPA government too had entered into FTA with ASEAN, it did so because the economy was booming, investments were good and exports were increasing. He said the UPA did not favour any FTA where China was a part of it.

Jairam Ramesh alleged that what happened in Wuhan and Mahabalipuram -- where Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met -- is not known to anybody.

Party General Secretary K.C. Venugopal said the Congress would be organising protests from November 5 to 15. The party has planned a major rally in the national Capital.

The Congress policy group sat for two hours and discussed the economic slowdown, RCEP, Citizenship Amendment Bill and the upcoming winter session of Parliament.

The party said China would be the biggest beneficiary of RCEP.

Source: IANS