NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma slammed the government decision to stay out of RCEP, a remark that appeared aimed as much at his own party as at the BJP government.
On a day his colleague Jairam Ramesh called the decision to stay out of the trade deal a vindication of Congress’s stand, Sharma, who was commerce minister in the UPA government, tweeted, “India’s decision of not joining RCEP is unfortunate and ill advised. It is in India’s strategic and economic interests to be a part of the process of Asia-Pacific integration. Withdrawal has negated years of persuasive negotiations for India to be accepted as part of RCEP. We could have negotiated safeguards to protect our interests. Keeping out of RCEP is a backward leap.”
In contrast, Ramesh tweeted, “On October 21, 2019, I had described India’s imminent membership of RCEP as third jhatka for the economy after demonetisation and botched GST. A year later, the position Congress took then in demanding that the PM not drag India into an unfair RCEP, as was being planned, stands vindicated.” The government has, however, pointed to the poor returns from UPA-era FTAs as a reason for being more sceptical about RCEP.
Importantly, Sharma is part of the dissident group of 23 which in August wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi slamming the drift in the organisation and demanding election to the post of president. The grouping has revived its attacks after the Bihar election defeat. Late last year, Congress, in a high powered committee meeting chaired by the party chief, came out against RCEP and said India should not join the trade bloc. In that meeting, Sharma and former PM Manmohan Singh had backed RCEP, dissenting from the stand taken by Ramesh and others.