NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Monday erupted into chaos after leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi mocked the Centre and claimed that if it had taken economic policies seriously, then the government would not have had to send foreign minister S Jaishankar to the US to get an invitation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony.
Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju countered Rahul’s remarks against PM Modi over Trump’s inaugural ceremony and said that the Leader of Opposition should not make such serious unsubstantial statements.
Interrupting Rahul during his speech, Rijiju said, “The Leader of Opposition cannot make such serious unsubstantial statements. This is related to the relation between two countries and he is making an unverified statement about the invitation of the Prime Minister of our country.”
The Lok Sabha Speaker also asked Rahul to substantiate his allegations, after which Rahul said, “I apologize for disturbing your peace of mind…”
‘China has 10-year lead on India’
During his Lok Sabha debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, Rahul said that China has at least a 10-year lead on India in the production sector of the economy.
“People talk about AI, but it’s important to understand that AI on its own is absolutely meaningless because AI operates on top of data. Without data, AI means nothing. And if we look at data today, there is one thing which is very clear. Every single piece of data that comes out of the production system in the world. The data that was used to make this phone, the data that is used to make electric cars,” Rahul said.
“The data that is used to make basically all electronics on the planet today is owned by China. And the consumption data is owned by the United States. China has at least a 10-year lead on India in this space. China has been working on batteries, robots, motors, optics for the last 10 years and we are behind. We would ensure that our banking system is not captured by 2-3 companies that basically do not allow you to build a production system. But our banking system is open, dynamic, and accessible to small and medium businesses and to millions and millions of entrepreneurs who want to take part in this revolution,” he added.
Further, Rahul claimed that if India had a better production system and were looking to develop technologies like AI, the US president would come and invite the Prime Minister.
“Our foreign policy would take into account this revolution. When we talk to the United States, we would not send our foreign minister to invite our Prime Minister to his coronation,” Gandhi said.
“Because if we had a production system and if we were working on these technologies, the American President would come here and invite the Prime Minister,” he added.
During his address, Rahul also said both the NDA and UPA governments faltered in generating adequate employment.
“Even though we have grown, we’ve grown fast, growing slightly slower now, but we are growing. A universal problem that we have faced is that we have not been able to tackle the problem of unemployment. Neither the UPA govt nor today’s NDA government has given a clear-cut answer to the youth of this country about employment,” he said.
He also remarked on President Droupadi Murmu’s recent address to Parliament.
“I must say, I struggled through the President’s address to maintain my attention on what was being said because I had heard pretty much the same President’s address the last time and the time before that. It was the same laundry list of the things that the Govt has done,” he added.