BJP responds to Rahul's RCEP attack, says he has "selective amnesia"

BJP via its official Twitter handle responded to Rahul Gandhi’s attack on RCEP and reminded him of a few things that happened under the UPA government. BJP in response to Rahul Gandhi said that it was the UPA government in 2012, that entered the RCEP negotiations. The tweet also said that PM Modi has clean the mess created by the UPA government as India’s trade deficit with China has increased by 23 times from $1.9Bn in 2005 to $44.8Bn in 2014.  

Rahul Gandhi's tweet attacking BJP

BJP’s response comes after Rahul Gandhi had tweeted about the RCEP negotiations via his Twitter handle. In his tweet, he asserted that "Make in India" has become "Buy from China". RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement among 10 ASEAN countries, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam and their six FTA partners China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while attacking the government alleged that the proposed free trade deal will flood the country with cheap goods, resulting in millions of job losses and crippling the economy.  

Read: RCEP leaders to issue joint statement on proposed trade pact

Read: Piyush Goyal counters Sonia: India joined RCEP negotiations in UPA era

Sonia Gandhi's take on the RCEP  

The interim president of the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi also took a dig at the government's economic policies on Saturday. She said that signing the RCEP agreement will give a "body blow" to the economy, resulting in "untold hardship" for farmers, shopkeepers, and small enterprises. The possible delay in firming up the RCEP during the three-day ASEAN summit in Bangkok has been attributed to India's demands on market access and tariff-related issues. Talking about signing the RCEP deal the Secretary (East) in the ministry of external affairs Vijay Thakur Singh, on Monday, had said that "There are some critical issues that are still outstanding; efforts are being made to resolve them to provide a fair and transparent trading environment. These issues are extremely important for our economy and livelihood of our people”. 

(With Agency Inputs)

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