Congress defends economic reforms and slams opposition parties at its mass rally

05 November, 2012

In its mass rally on Sunday, November 4, the Congress party sought support from its workers and sympathizers for opening up the country's retail sector for foreign investors to help farmers and check inflation. The rally venue, Ramlila Maidan, was overflowing with rural supporters brought from neighboring states in buses.

THE PEOPLE carrying placards in favour of FDI mainly came from the north Indian states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh where agriculture is a major source of livelihood.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi told the crowd that the foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail sector will benefit farmers, generate employment and help the common man by bringing the prices down.

Charging the Opposition for weakening the foundations of democracy, Ms Gandhi said: “Our conscience is clear, our record is clean and our intentions are good. There is no need for the Congress to be on the defensive."

The crowd was told that due to lack of cold storage facilities and proper granaries about one-third of food production of the nation gets wasted. Through FDI, supermarket chains like Walmart create infrastructure and stop the wastage. Consequently, the consumer goods will become cheaper.

Rahul Gandhi informed the crowd that the Lokpal Bill will be passed in the Parliament in the coming months and blamed the Opposition for having blocked its passage earlier. He said that the FDI in multi-brand retail will benefit farmers a lot.

The PM Manmohan Singh, while praising Sonia Gandhi's leadership, informed the crowd about his government’s economic reforms that will benefit the common man by creating create more jobs.

He said that in recent fuel hike the interest of the poor has been kept in mind since the price of kerosene oil has not been increased.

Thus, the speakers at the rally defended FDI and the fuel hike along with hitting at the opposition calling them obstructionist and corrupt to the core.