Mumbai: Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal described Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi as “immature”, with no of the economy.
He also claimed that the Congress has no constructive agenda to criticise the Narendra Modi government and accused the party of spreading misinformation, as reported by PTI.
Rahul is “thousands of miles away from the truth” and “discredited leaders” like him may try but would not be able to stop Prime Minister Modi and his service to the nation, Goyal told reporters on Saturday, while speaking on the Union Budget.
“The Congress is frustrated. It has no other scheme or solution except spreading misinformation and fabricated claims. It does not have any point to criticise us. They are trying to mislead our farmers by spreading wrong and false information,” he said.
“I am confident that discredited leaders like Rahul Gandhi of the Congress and its allies, including TMC, DMK and SP, which are parties rejected by the people, can try hundreds of thousands of times, but nobody can stop PM Narendra Modi and his service to the nation,” Goyal further said.
The Congress has failed to understand its own limitations, thei minister, who is also the Mumbai North MP, said.
“Rahul Gandhi does not have any understanding of the economy, only tweeting false and misleading information on social media. He is thousands of miles away from the truth. India’s cotton cultivation capacity and requirement both would grow. This policy of importing material and processing it for export is an old practice in global trade,” Goyal further said.
When immature people come into politics, allegations of such levels are made, he afded, attacking Rahul over the latter’s criticism of the Indo-US trade deal with regard to cotton cultivation and the textile sector.
According to him, textiles are a shining example in the country’s overall exports, accounting for nearly Rs 3.60 lakh crore of the total, which would more than double in the coming time.
“Among the FTAs that
India has pushed forward in the last few months, the textile sector’s contribution would be nearly USD half a trillion, which comes to about Rs 45 lakh crore. With the textile market now open for us, it will benefit us. The US alone procures textile products worth around Rs 9 lakh crore annually. Moreover, reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods have been reduced to 18 per cent from the earlier 50 per cent,” Goyal pointed out.
Roughly half of the total exports to the US from India will go at zero duty, and the 18 per cent tariffs on the rest are the lowest when compared to any other competing nation, he asserted.
“We are lower than China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. India has received the lowest tariffs from the US compared to its competitors, and it has opened a USD 30 trillion market for India. I think it is a game-changer for the future progress of India,” the minister said.
He also noted that the European Union procures around Rs 22-23 lakh crore worth of goods from India, adding that textile products would be exported at zero duty to markets such as the EU, New Zealand, and the UK.
“The US produces around 480 million bales of cotton every year, which is valued at Rs 1.25 lakh crore. It cannot damage the interests of India’s cotton growers. The US exports around Rs 45,000 crore worth of cotton. In my guess, India’s one region produces more cotton than that,” the minister said.
Saying that the nation’s demand for cotton is higher and rising, the senior BJP leader pointed out that Bangladesh has been offered zero-duty access to the US market on the condition that it procures cotton from the US.
If Indian exporters purchase cotton or yarn from the US, process it in India and export the finished products back to the US, they could also avail zero-duty benefits, Goyal said.
“The provision was not new. For several years, the import of raw materials meant for processing and subsequent export has attracted zero duty. Such practices have been in place for many years. The Special Economic Zones Act introduced during the Congress regime had similar provisions,” he said.
Demand for cotton from Indian farmers would certainly increase, he said and urged them to expand production and improve productivity.
The total US cotton production is not even 10 per cent of India’s cotton requirement, he said, questioning how an “immature” leader like Rahul had been made the Leader of Opposition.