Fireworks industry had lost the opportunity to export ₹20,000 crore- worth goods in the last six years under the BJP rule at the Centre, said Congress leader Veerappa Moily.
Addressing reporters here on Friday, Mr. Moily said that the labour-oriented industry had suffered under the Modi government and the AIADMK government in the State had failed to take up their cause.
There was job loss everywhere in the country and it had not spared fireworks industry. “The industry should have been treated like a special economic zone. But, it lost ₹20,000 crore-worth exports,” he charged. Among the various reasons that stalled exports was the faulty Goods and Services Tax policy.
While the GST implementation had led to the loss of 12 crore jobs, demonetisation had resulted in 8 crore job losses, he added.
The former Union Minister said that if Jayalalithaa were alive, she would have walked out of the BJP alliance. He said that Tamil identity was threatened. Tamil was made a classical language by the Congress-led UPA government. The BJP was, on the contrary, upholding ‘Hindu, Hindi and Hindustan’ slogan to divide the people of the country.
Stating that Tamil Nadu’s voice was always the first whenever there was a threat to federalism or the rights of the State, Mr. Moily said that when the State of Jammu and Kashmir was made into two Union Territories, the AIADMK government remained silent.
The AIADMK had voted for the three farm laws and also in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Act. “The AIADMK’s 11 Rajya Sabha votes helped the BJP pass the bill. However, now it says that it would oppose the Act. The AIADMK is afraid of the BJP,” he said.
Stating that jobless educated youth would take a revenge on the AIADMK and vote it out of power. While the Congress and the UPA had helped build public sector units, the BJP was bent upon selling them and depriving the people of jobs, he added.
