Congress to protest ‘anti-farmer’ RCEP deal

The Manmohan Singh-led UPA II government had initiated India's negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2012, but Congress President Sonia Gandhi has decided that the party will stand against the free-trade agreement, and is planning to protest the “anti-farmer” trade deal both within Parliament during the winter session from November 18, as also outside.

While a section of the Congress has reservations on speaking against the trade deal, senior leaders said Sonia Gandhi was convinced that the party should protest the deal as it would hurt the interests of domestic industry, particularly dairy farmers. During the UPA years, Sonia Gandhi had written to prime minister Singh about her concerns on the INDIA-ASEAN free trade agreement. This was after the Kerala unit of the Congress was opposed to that FTA as it had feared it would hurt the interests of plantation workers.

Not just opposition parties, there are concerns within the Sangh Parivar and other farmers’ outfits about the impending RCEP between 10-member ASEAN grouping and its six trading partners, including India. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Sangh Parivar affiliates oppose India signing an “unequal” RCEP. The All India Kisan Sangharsh Co-ordination Committee, an umbrella body of 180-odd farm outfits, is also considering an agitation on the issue of RCEP. Sources in the opposition said it was likely that all the protests could converge, as they did when the opposition as well as the Sangh Parivar opposed the Modi government’s land bill in 2015.

On Monday, Congress Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh tweeted against the deal. He said it would be a third jhatka, or jolt, to the Indian economy.