FDI in retail under foreign pressure: BJP

New Delhi, July 23 (PTI) BJP on Saturday said it would
strongly oppose the government move to allow FDI in retail
sector as it would affect small traders and alluded to the UPA
government succumbing to US pressure in changing the policy.
"Along with price rise, unemployment has been
increasing in this country. 50 per cent of our population,
comprising of small traders, street-vendors and the self-
employed sustain themselves through retail businesses. The UPA
government wants to deprive them of livelihood by allowing FDI
in multibrand retail," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain
said.
BJP will oppose this policy through which the
government proposes to allow 100 per cent FDI in multi-brand
retail in cities having population above 10 Lakh.
The party has always counted on the support of small
traders and feels that neighbourhood store-owners would be
adversely affected by the entry of foreign brands like
Walmart, Tesco and Carrefour.
"The government should try to build a political
consensus on this issue. The Rajya Sabha Standing Committee
report had stated that FDI should not be allowed in retail as
small shopkeepers would be affected," Hussain said.
He alluded to this step being take under foreign
pressure, and mentioned the recent visit of US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton to India in this regard.
"There is a suspicion that this government is working
under pressure. Whenever some big leader, especially from the
US, visits India the government forms a bigger committee to
over-rule the decision of its Standing Committees," he said.
A Committee of Secretaries, headed by Cabinet
Secretary Ajit Seth, has cleared the proposal to have FDI in
retail.
BJP sought to know whether the government had conducted
any study on whether FDI in retail will increase or decrease
unemployment.
Hussain insisted that the erstwhile NDA government led
by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had started several programmes to
generate employment during its tenure.
"The UPA government has been a complete failure in
controlling unemployment... In the name of economic reforms
this government wants to take away employment for the benefit
of the foreign multibrand companies," Hussain said. PTI RC
RCJ