BJYM President, Sh. Anurag Thakur regarding condemning the attack on Sh. Sharad Pawar

BJYM National President Sh. Anurag Thakur condemned the attack on Union Cabinet Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar. He said, that “such violence has no place in a democracy”. Thakur said, “even though the means of expression were undemocratic, the incident reflects the anger and frustration of millions of ordinary Indians with high inflation and food prices”.

Sh. Thakur said that while Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi was busy urging the people of UP to be “gussa” with the non- performance of the state government during his campaign for upcoming elections in the state, he as well as the Congress leadership have failed to realize the “gussa” of the common man against the Congress led Central government.

Sh. Thakur said, “the incident should serve as a reminder for the Congress party of people’s disillusionment with the current state of affairs”. He blamed the Congress led UPA government of being unresponsive to and out of touch with the sentiments of the common man.

“The incident of Congress Ministers thrashing protesting youth demonstrating against Rahul Gandhi in Phulpur is an example of the divergence between the Congress and the aamadmi” Thakur said. He said that “violence is unacceptable in a democracy, but people’s voices should be heard”.

(Dinesh Pratap Singh)
BJYM, National Media Incharge

Smt. Sushma Swaraj and Shri Arun Jaitley on Government’s proposal to introduce FDI in retail sector

Joint Statement issued by Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha)
and Shri Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha)
On Government’s proposal to introduce FDI in retail sector

The Bharatiya Janata Party is opposed to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) being introduced in the Retail sector. The Indian economy, at present, is dominated by the Services sector. The Services sector account for 58 percent of India’s GDP. The retail chains in India, both small and big, account for a major segment of the Services sector. Self-employment in India is the single largest source of jobs. An overwhelming section of India’s population is self-employed. Foreign Direct Investment with deep pockets entering this segment will have an adverse impact on our domestic retail sector, which is growing.

The consumer choices require markets to be fragmented rather than consolidated. Fragmented markets give larger options to the consumers. Consolidated markets make the consumer captive. No one player should be allowed to dominate the market. Allowing foreign players, with deep pockets, enable such a consolidation. It will sweep aside competition and involve a loss of jobs, both in the manufacturing and services sector. These jobs will be lost in the name of eliminating middlemen. Jobs in the retail sector will obviously be lost. Jobs in the manufacturing sector will be lost because structured international retail makes purchases internationally and not from domestic sources. This experience has been felt in most countries which have allowed FDI in retail. International retail players operate on buying at the lowest and selling at the highest prices. They indulge in predatory pricing, which initially eliminates competition and eventually creates monopolies. This can result food chains of large nations being controlled foreign organizations. The number of retail establishments as at present gets substantially reduced in favour of large establishments. International retail does not create additional markets, it merely displaces existing market.

The argument that India needs a supply chain in order to help the farm sector and only foreign players can supply the same is to be rejected. India needs infrastructure for carrying farmers’ produce to the consumers. This has to be done in the most efficient and cheapest manner. International retail players have no role in the building of roads, both rural and urban or generating power. They are required to create storage facilities and cold chains. Why can’t the same be done by the governments in India, both central and states. Are you going to handover our food supplies to foreign hands merely because governments have failed to create cold chains?

The comparison between India and China in allowing international retails players is misplaced. China is predominantly a manufacturing economy. It is the largest supplier to Walmart and other international majors. It generates huge number of manufacturing jobs by being such a supplier. It obviously cannot say ‘No’ to these chains to open stores in China when it is global supplier to them. India on the contrary will lose both manufacturing and service sector jobs.

(Ram Kripal Sinha)
Secretary, BJP Parliamentary Party

MAIN POINTS OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF SHRI L. K. ADVANI AT MUMBAI (MAHARASHTRA)

MAIN POINTS OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF
SHRI L. K. ADVANI AT MUMBAI (MAHARASHTRA)

• Apart from corruption the issue of black money particularly huge amount stashed away in foreign banks including in Swiss Banks, has deeply disturbed and distressed the people of the country. There anger I have myself noticed in the course of my Jan Chetna yatra where in I have covered 15 states and 1 Union Territory. In all the yatra will go to 23 states and 5 Union Territories in a span of 38 days covering a road distance of 7600 KM.
  
  
• Since a long time I have been demanding that the Government must come out with a white paper as regards the step it has taken to bring back this money which, in majority of the cases is the product of crime and corruption. There is complete silence from the Government. Today I would like to raise certain important questions which the Government must answer –
  
  

1. Powerful countries like USA, Germany, France and even smaller countries like Philippines, Peru and Nigeria have taken a variety of measures to bring back black money parked in foreign bank accounts with great success. Why is the UPA Government not prepared to follow the steps they have taken?
   
   
2. USA, Germany, France and UK have invariably entered into agreements and treaties with Switzerland which help them extract information. USA got information of four thousand account holders form the UBS Bank. Other Countries have also managed to get substantial information.
   
   
3. The nature of agreement which India has entered into is so worded that the Government takes shelter under it to refuse to extract information. This is also prospective giving scope to the defaulters to withdraw their money.
   
   
4. Few months ago the Swiss Ambassador to India publically stated that if the Government of India shows the political will the Swiss Government is willing to cooperate.
   
   
5. India today is an important country of the world and is also a part of the G-20. Presently Dr. Manmohan Singh is attending the G-20 summit in France. Why is India reluctant to assert itself in the light of its rising global stature to recover this dirty money. What is holding back the UPA Government spite of such anger in this country against rank inaction.
   
   
6. When the whole world is proceeding towards openess and disclosure of information, what prevents the Government from disclosing the names of those who have parked this money in foreign banks?
   
   
7. The Government took six years to ratify the U.N. Convention against corruption and invariably the taxation agreements with various countries are being made prospective which will frustrate the very purpose of this exercise.
   
   

• It is learnt that the names of three Member of Parliament also figure in respect of whom income tax authorities are investigating in connection with Swiss Bank accounts. This is a very serious issue. This brings the issue of black money close to the political system and it cannot be dealt with only as a tax evasion issue. Full facts in this connection must be made public.
  
  
• These are important questions and the rank indifference of the Government only shows once again that the UPA Government wants to hide because disclosure will cause embarrassment. The Government lacks the political will.
• Black money has a direct role to play in the pernicious influence of money power in elections which is becoming very deep rooted. The motto of this Yatra is clean politics and good governance and proper electoral reforms must be initiated to curb the influence of money power. It is essential for democracy.
• This Yatra is for regeneration of India.