Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has said that he is not “anti-business” as portrayed by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), but rather “anti-monopoly” and “against creating oligopolies.”
His comments followed an opinion piece in a media outlet the previous day, in which he stated that while the original East India Company ceased to exist over 150 years ago, the fear it once instilled has resurfaced and is now replaced by a new generation of monopolists.
In a video posted on X on Thursday, he said, “I want to make something absolutely clear, I have been projected by my opponents in the BJP to be anti-business. I am not anti-business in the least, I am anti-monopoly, I am anti-creating oligopolies, I am anti-domination of business by one or 2 or 5 people.”
However, Gandhi said that the time has arrived for a “new deal for progressive Indian business.”
“I started my career as a management consultant and I understand the type of things that are required for a business to succeed. So I just want to repeat, I am not anti-business, I am anti-monopoly,” he emphasised.
In the post accompanying the video, Gandhi stated, “I am pro-Jobs, pro-Business, pro-Innovation, pro-Competition. I am anti-Monopoly.”
He further asserted, “Our economy will thrive when there is free and fair space for all businesses.”
Gandhi said in his piece that the East India Company had silenced India by its chokehold, not its business acumen. He noted that the Company suppressed India by working with, bribing and intimidating more submissive maharajas and nawabs.
“It controlled our banking, bureaucratic, and information networks. We didn’t lose our freedom to another nation; we lost it to a monopolistic corporation that ran a coercive apparatus,” he said.
He asserted that although the original East India Company closed over 150 years ago, the raw fear it sparked has returned. Gandhi stated that a new breed of monopolists had replaced it, accumulating enormous fortune, despite the fact that India had become far more unfair and unequal for everyone else.
Gandhi was criticised by the BJP for levelling “baseless accusations” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was urged to consider the facts before drawing any judgements.
“Another baseless accusation against the Modi government through the so-called match-fixing monopoly groups versus fair-play businesses’ is simply misleading. Dear Baalak Buddhi, do not jump to conclusions without examining facts,” the BJP said in a post.
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