Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj opened the discussion on foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail on Tuesday making an impassioned plea for her party’s core constituency- retail shopkeepers and small industry. She repeatedly advised the government to leave trade in grain and pulses to Indian shopkeepers.
Swaraj said: ‘In India a trader from Rajasthan or Bhiwani travels to remote Arunanchal for retail trade, and he does it efficiently. Where is the need for foreign intervention.’ She took the government to task for failing to take parties into confidence before taking the decision. She also used this opportunity to score some brawny points with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. ‘Soniaji asked in a recent rally if India had seen any government that brought about so much development in such a short span of time. I did not understand who she was comparing herself to. We have been in power for six years. The Congress has been in power for 50, and of those, over 30 years have been led by the Nehru-Gandhi family,’ said Swaraj.
Slamming the government, Trinamool MP Saugata Roy said US secretary of state Hillary Clinton was on the board of Walmart before joining the American government and Clinton’s recent visit was to make India agree to FDI’s introduction. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid protested to remarks about Clinton to which Roy said, ‘Mr Khurshid is a sensitive man, positively sensitive about Hillary Clinton and negatively about Arvind Kejriwal.’ Even CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta supported Roy as he said, ‘Mr Khurshid is very much concerned about Mrs Clinton.’
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party continued with their ambivalent stand on FDI, criticising it on the floor of the House but not giving any indication that it would go with the Opposition during the vote.
Swaraj said: ‘In India a trader from Rajasthan or Bhiwani travels to remote Arunanchal for retail trade, and he does it efficiently. Where is the need for foreign intervention.’ She took the government to task for failing to take parties into confidence before taking the decision. She also used this opportunity to score some brawny points with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. ‘Soniaji asked in a recent rally if India had seen any government that brought about so much development in such a short span of time. I did not understand who she was comparing herself to. We have been in power for six years. The Congress has been in power for 50, and of those, over 30 years have been led by the Nehru-Gandhi family,’ said Swaraj.
Slamming the government, Trinamool MP Saugata Roy said US secretary of state Hillary Clinton was on the board of Walmart before joining the American government and Clinton’s recent visit was to make India agree to FDI’s introduction. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid protested to remarks about Clinton to which Roy said, ‘Mr Khurshid is a sensitive man, positively sensitive about Hillary Clinton and negatively about Arvind Kejriwal.’ Even CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta supported Roy as he said, ‘Mr Khurshid is very much concerned about Mrs Clinton.’
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party continued with their ambivalent stand on FDI, criticising it on the floor of the House but not giving any indication that it would go with the Opposition during the vote.