Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asserted on Thursday that he is not anti-business as being projected by the BJP, but anti-monopoly and anti-creating oligopolies.
The clarification from the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha came amid attacks by the BJP over the MP wrote an opinion piece in a news daily.
Gandhi also claimed that after he wrote the article in the newspaper, many play-fair businesses have told him that a senior minister has been calling and forcing them to say good things on social media about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government's programmes.
Rahul Gandhi's statement came a day after he wrote an opinion piece in The Indian Express. The article said the original East India Company wound up its operations more than 150 years ago but the raw fear it used to generate then is back now, with a new breed of monopolists having taken its place. Gandhi also asserted that a new deal for progressive Indian business is an idea whose time has come.
In a video shared on X on Thursday, Gandhi 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 two or five people."
"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 said.
In another post the Congress MP said, "After my article, many play-fair businesses are telling me that a senior minister has been calling and forcing them to say good things on social media about PM Modi and the govt's programmes. Proves my point exactly!"
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had slammed Gandhi for making baseless accusations against Modi and asked him to examine facts before jumping to conclusions.
The BJP, while attacking the Congress leader, said, "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," it said, in a veiled reference to Gandhi.
"It also shared on X video clips of the top executives of nine companies, including Zomato, Haldiram's, Tynor, Larsen & Toubro and Moglix, named by Gandhi in his article, and asked the Congress leader to listen to their views on Modi's leadership and economic policies. Listen to what these companies have to say about the support they've received from PM Modi," the BJP said.
What Rahul Gandhi Wrote In The Opinion Piece?
In an article published in The Indian Express on Wednesday, Gandhi said the original East India Company wound up its operations more than 150 years ago but the raw fear it then generated is back now, with a new breed of monopolists having taken its place.
The Congress leader also said India was silenced by the East India Company and it was silenced not by the company's business prowess, but by its chokehold.
The company choked India by partnering with, bribing and threatening more pliant maharajas and nawabs, he added.
"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," Gandhi said in the opinion article.
The original East India Company wound up over 150 years ago, but the raw fear it then generated is back, he claimed. A new breed of monopolists has taken its place, amassing colossal wealth, even as India has become far more unequal and unfair for everybody else, Gandhi had said.