- 10 months ago
On this Special Report, the focus is on the political firestorm triggered by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s remarks regarding the Indian economy and US trade relations. Gandhi has reiterated his 'dead economy' jibe, asserting that 'Job losses, shutdowns is the reality of a debt economy' under the current administration. He specifically highlighted the impact of tariffs imposed by the US administration on India's textile sector, claiming that over 4.5 crore jobs and lakhs of businesses are at risk. Gandhi further alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered no relief and remains silent on the issue. The programme features a sharp rebuttal from BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, who dismissed the claims by citing India's status as the world's fastest-growing major economy with high GDP growth and foreign exchange reserves. The report also examines the ongoing trade negotiations between New Delhi and Washington aimed at resolving the tariff standoff.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We'll start with some news just coming in.
00:08The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has once again reiterated the debt economy jibe.
00:14Gandhi says Trump's tariff badly hurting India.
00:18Job losses, shutdowns is the reality of a debt economy, as what Gandhi said.
00:23Modi offered no relief, mum on terrace.
00:264.5 pro jobs, lakhs of businesses at stake, says Rahul Gandhi.
00:31I'm going to go straight across to Rahul Gautam for more details on that story.
00:34It's a jive that he's repeated.
00:36He's spoken about this in the past as well as far as the economy is concerned.
00:40Take us to the details of what he said now and where exactly.
00:48Rahul Gandhi has put out a tweet saying that, you know,
00:53that the fact that we shut down, job losses, job losses, in fact, has reduced work orders
00:59have become a harsh reality of our debt economy.
01:02Now, this phrase he has used for the second time probably.
01:06And obviously, this is again going to become a bone of consumption,
01:10a major flashpoint because of the fact that, you know,
01:13earlier also when he used this term, you know, EJP objected to it.
01:17And in fact, while, you know, putting out the tweet, Rahul Gandhi said that
01:20the prime minister of Modi is not speaking enough.
01:25I'm going to come back to you, Rahul, in a moment from now.
01:27Rahul Gautam, they're getting in those details.
01:29We'll just try and fix the radio line.
01:30I apologize for that.
01:32But this is what Rahul Gandhi, the leader of our position,
01:34has said in the past as far as the dead economy is concerned.
01:38Rahul Gandhi has spoken about the fact that he believes that the economy has died
01:42and destroyed because of various steps taken by this government.
01:47He's also spoken about tariffs hurting us hard and bad.
01:50And that's the reason why the prime minister should do something about tariffs being imposed,
01:54jobs getting finished, unemployment rising,
01:58MSME being damaged due to various steps that has been taken by this government.
02:03He's spoken about the fact that India has not done enough to protect our people
02:06from the tariffs imposed by the American administration, by the U.S. government.
02:11He's spoken about Trump's tariffs hurting India bad and that India needs help at this point in time.
02:19The economy is dead, says Rahul Gandhi, reiterating what he said in the past as well.
02:28He's repeatedly spoken about the fact that India's economy is dead or destroyed
02:32and this has got largely to do with Trump's tariffs, is what Rahul Gandhi has said.
02:38But the government continues to maintain that they're doing what they can.
02:40In fact, to cushion the people against the tariffs imposed by the U.S.
02:51Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition, has repeated the dead economy tick.
02:56And this is what he said, that Indian economy has died
03:00and that this government has done little to protect its people.
03:04Modi offered no relief as mum on tariffs, is what Rahul Gandhi has said,
03:10that the Prime Minister has not done enough for the people when it comes to these tariffs being imposed
03:16and the government protecting its people.
03:204.5 crore jobs, lakhs of businesses at stake, says Rahul Gandhi.
03:25In the past as well, Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition, has taken all the current political dispensation,
03:36speaking about tariffs, the imposition of heavy-duty tariffs against India by the U.S.,
03:43saying that this has killed the economy.
03:46He's repeated essentially the U.S. residents' dead economy jibe as well,
03:53but instead he said this has got more to do with the fact that Indians haven't been protected by the ruling BJP.
03:59He's also, in fact, again taken to Twitter to say that the Prime Minister has not offered any relief
04:08or addressed the issue of businesses being affected by tariffs.
04:15Tariffs and uncertainty are badly hurting India's textile exporters, is what he's spoken about in the past as well.
04:24Modi has offered, Mr. Modi has offered no relief or even spoken about tariffs,
04:28even though more than 4.5 crore jobs and lakhs of businesses are at stake, says.
04:34You're accountable. Please direct your attention to this matter.
04:41And these remarks, of course, come at a time when Washington and New Delhi continue high-stakes discussions,
04:47negotiations aimed at resolving a prolonged trade standoff marked by heavy tariffs.
04:53Of course, in the context of geopolitical tensions, disputes over energy and agriculture.
04:59I'm going to go back to Rahul for more details on that story.
05:04This is something that President Donald Trump had also said in the past,
05:09and Gandhi essentially is repeating what had been said,
05:12but in the context of U.S. imposing tariffs,
05:14saying that this government has not done much to protect its people and our interests.
05:18Well, that's a big charge that Rahul Gandhi is lifting against Prime Minister Ninder Modi,
05:28that he's not doing enough to counter the U.S. pressure.
05:32In fact, he said that the Prime Minister's weakness is actually impacting India's economy.
05:37Now, possibly for the second time, he has repeated the term,
05:40a dead economy, which when he used last time also,
05:44if you remember, led to a huge furore or a slugfest between BGP and Congress,
05:51because BGP said that essentially Rahul Gandhi was insulting Indian economy,
05:56and later on that term was also in a way used by Donald Trump.
06:00Now, Rahul Gandhi is saying that at a time when U.S. is about to,
06:05or all set to, impose 50% tariff on Indian goods,
06:08and, you know, there's uncertainty over U.S.-India trade deal.
06:13Now, this is all affecting our textile sector particularly,
06:17for which he said that around 4.5 crore people are going to get impacted,
06:22and, you know, factory shutdowns, reduced, you know, work orders, job losses,
06:29all these have become a harsh reality of our dead economy.
06:33Now, again, you know, given the fact that Rahul Gandhi has used this term,
06:38a dead economy, expect that BGP would be reacting to this.
06:42But, you know, obviously he's alleging, you know, a big charge against PMOB.
06:48He's saying that Prime Minister is not speaking enough, Prime Minister is not acting enough,
06:52and therefore all these, you know, inaction on his part is actually hurting Indian interests.
06:58Now, therefore, in a way, he is asking Prime Minister Nidra Modi to intervene,
07:03to break his silence, and, in fact, he said that the inability of Prime Minister Nidra Modi
07:10to take on, you know, U.S. pressure on Donald Trump,
07:13all this is actually affecting livelihood of crawls of Indians.
07:17So, clearly, you can say that this is again going to become a major flashpoint
07:20because of the fact that, you know, using, you know, dead economy,
07:24when BGP is celebrating the same economy as the fourth largest economy of the world,
07:30as somebody, as a country who has got highest GDP numbers,
07:33obviously this will not go well with BGP leaders.
07:35Expect that a rebuttal or a counterattack would be coming in from the BGP leaders as well.
07:41Well, absolutely. Be with us.
07:42Rahul Gautam, coming back to you in a moment from now,
07:44BGP's Shahzad Poonawala is also now joining us.
07:47Your take, Shahzad, on what has been said by Rahul Gandhi, of course,
07:50he said this in the past as well.
07:52Job creation is a problem. Unemployment is an issue.
07:55The economy is dead, says Rahul Gandhi.
07:58Rahul Gandhi is a serial liar.
08:01He is on the payrolls of Soros.
08:02He only does berating of Bharat, whether in India or abroad.
08:07And he's saying Indian economy is dead.
08:09Indian economy has registered 8.2 and 10.4 percent growth rate.
08:13IMF has revised its estimation for Indian growth rate upwards.
08:17Recently, we have seen the statement of the EU,
08:19whether they want to do the deal with India
08:21and said that it's going to be the mother of all deals.
08:24In WEF, at Davos, India is being celebrated as a global growth engine.
08:29For the kind of information of Rahul Gandhi,
08:30our economy went from 11th to 4th position.
08:33We have highest foreign direct investment,
08:35highest foreign exchange reserve,
08:37highest fastest growing economy,
08:39lowest inflation, about 1 or 2 percent,
08:41lowest NPAs, 25 crore people pulled out of poverty,
08:45highest levels of worker participation rate,
08:48lowest unemployment rate.
08:50And even then, he says Indian economy is dead.
08:51Actually, his career is dead.
08:53His career is dead.
08:54And therefore, he finds that our democracy is dead,
08:56our economy is dead.
08:57He berates our Indian army in operations in do.
09:00And therefore, he has few takers within the country
09:02and very few people take him seriously.
09:05All right.
09:06I'm going to leave it at that for the moment.
09:07We'll also wait to hear from the Congress on these figures
09:09that the BJP has given out as far as the government's efforts
09:12to push through far-reaching policy reforms
09:15like the Bharatiya Janta Party has been pointing out.
09:17I want to go across to my colleague from Business City Television.
09:21Sakshi also is with us.
09:23India has done things to, in a way,
09:26fast-track key reforms to shield itself from U.S. tariffs.
09:29But clearly, as far as politics is concerned,
09:32Sakshi, what is being said by the leader of the opposition
09:34is that the economy is dead,
09:36in a way, repeating what Donald Trump had said against India, isn't it?
09:41Right, Sneha.
09:41But, you know, everybody knows that India is not a dead economy.
09:45Time and again, we have proven that we are still the major,
09:48fastest-growing major economy in the world,
09:50with 7.4% of growth rate coming in.
09:52And even at the World Economic Forum,
09:55India is being talked about as a bright spark
09:58in this entire looming uncertainty that the world is grappled with.
10:02Yes, of course, there is an impact of the 50% tariffs
10:05that we have been imposed by.
10:07Remember, the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on India in August.
10:11And textile sector, definitely, which has been at the receiving end.
10:15It has received a body blow.
10:16Remember, 30% nearly of India's textile exports go to the U.S.
10:20And American buyers are now finding out newer countries
10:23as opportunities to buy out from them.
10:26Vietnam, Bangladesh, Turkey,
10:28which have more competitive advantage than us
10:31because we were at a 50% tariff.
10:33All of these countries were anywhere between 15% to 20% tariff.
10:36So, therefore, our textile industry has been constantly highlighting
10:39that even in the January to March quarter,
10:41they will see about a 50% drop in the order volumes
10:44that will be coming in from the U.S.
10:45And that is a concern that they have voiced
10:48in front of the Parliamentary Standing Committee
10:50and in front of the government as well.
10:51The government is acknowledging all of these concerns,
10:54is looking at how to support the industries.
10:57And it's not that it's falling on deaf ears.
10:59The government is definitely aware of what things could happen.
11:02Remember, in the next few days,
11:03we will be having the union budget of 2026.
11:05There could be some announcement on protecting
11:07the interests of these domestic industries,
11:10protecting them from these body blows
11:12that the U.S. has been giving it.
11:14Of course, there is an impact on the textile space.
11:17There is, you know, some jobs at stake.
11:19But at this point in time,
11:20we cannot rule out that the government
11:22will not do anything to protect them.
11:25We are still in conversation with the U.S.
11:27U.S. President Donald Trump himself has pointed out
11:30that he is also confident of having a good deal with India.
11:34So, it's not just that India wants a good deal with the U.S.
11:36Even the U.S. wants a good deal with us.
11:38So, once that happens, things are going to be proper.
11:41And we are going to just have some patience to have
11:43at this point in time and see how things progress.
11:46This is politics, isn't it, Sakshi?
11:48And the leader of the opposition has said
11:50the Prime Minister's mum on tariffs.
11:51Even though every step is now being looked at very cautiously,
11:57there is conversation underway, trade tariff talks are underway.
12:01And, of course, both countries, like you said,
12:03are expecting a positive sort of a result of win-win situation for both.
12:07I'm going to leave it at that for the moment.
12:08Getting in those details is my colleague, Sakshi,
12:10that's why I'm Rahul tracking that story.