Rahul Gandhi video series: ‘Note ban, GST, Covid lockdown aim to destroy informal sector’

“Don’t think as though there were no thoughts behind this lockdown. The aim was to destroy the informal sector,” Rahul Gandhi alleged, adding that doing so will only result in lack of employment.

Releasing his first among a series of videos on the Centre’s handling of the Indian economy, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that the Narendra Modi government had implemented demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax and the coronavirus lockdown with an aim to destroy the country’s informal sector that covers more than 90% of the population.

In his video titled ‘Arthvyavastha Ki Baat, Rahul Gandhi ke saath’, Gandhi referred to the 2008 global recession and said: “In 2008, there was an economic slowdown. While the American and European banks were shut, India wasn’t affected.”

He added: “The UPA government was in power then. In a question to then prime minister Manmohan Singh, I asked why the entire world was affected and not us. He told me that in order to understand the situation, you will have to know that there are of two kinds (of economy) here: organised and non organised. The first involves major companies while the second includes smaller ones and farmers, among others. As long as the second one remains firm, no economic disaster can touch India.”

Gandhi referred to demonetisation, implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the coronavirus lockdown to claim that the Indian economy can, therefore, be categorised under the second type.

“The informal sector provides employment to more than 90% if the population. India will not be able to generate jobs if this is broken. The citizens are being cheated and are being prepared to become slaves. We have to fight this,” he said.

Prior to raising the economy, the Congress leader had attacked the BJP government over the killing of 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan faceoff and the ongoing border tension with China.