Opposition to protest against Centre over economic slowdown in and outside Parliament

NEW DELHI: An array of leaders from as many as 13 Opposition parties met on Monday at the Constitutional Club in Delhi, to discuss the issues related to the economy and the ongoing Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations in Bangkok, with emphasis on their implications in India.

In the meeting, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad called for a united front of all the opposition parties across India and vowed to hold a protest against the Centre over economic slowdown at Parliament and outside as well. 

Delhi: Opposition leaders met today over issues of economic slowdown, unemployment and the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement. pic.twitter.com/GlivZq9uyX — ANI (@ANI) November 4, 2019

The meeting was attended by Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and R. Shukla,  D. Kupendra Reddy of the JDS, LJD's Sharad Yadav, DMK's TR Balu, Manoj Jha of RJD, TMC's Md Nadimul Haque, RLD's Ajit Singh, TK Rangarajan of the CPI-M, CPI's D Raja and Binoy Viswam,RLSP's Upendra Kushwaha, IUML's PK Kunhalikutti, KCM's Jose K Mani and RSP's Shatrujeet Singh.

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Congress president Sonia Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar were not present in the meeting. There was no representation from the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Aam Aadmi Party. The meeting was convened by Azad who is the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

In the meeting, issues ranging from the demonetisation, the increasing number of unemployed people, the economic market in the country, the agrarian crisis, the Free Trade Agreement which is among sixteen countries were also discussed.

Talking about unemployment, Azad said, "Every month unemployment is increasing, especially for educated people, statistics say that there is double unemployment in our country, those who have the responsibility of India coming on their shoulders are depressed today."

He added that the government was not focused on the economy, and the GDP was falling. Azad further said, "Industrial growth has decreased, production has gone to growth minus, Non-Profit Assets (NPAs) have reached Rs 8 lakh crore, and bank frauds during the BJP government have increased to 25,000 times."