India, West 'handed over' production to Beijing; 'Made in China' goods crippling jobs in democracies: Rahul Gandhi in Germany

Rahul Gandhi linked the manufacturing shift to rising political polarisation, stating that joblessness has contributed significantly to turbulence in India, Europe and the US.

Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi argued that India and Western democracies have weakened their own job markets by allowing China to dominate global manufacturing, saying the overdependence on "Made in China" goods has undermined employment and fuelled political instability across democracies.

Speaking at an event at the Hertie School in Berlin, Gandhi said democracies must produce goods to sustain themselves, warning that service-led growth alone cannot generate jobs at the scale required in countries such as India, the United States and Europe.

"The West and, to some extent, India handed over production to China. China dominates manufacturing today, and as a result, it has become extremely difficult to provide employment to large populations," Gandhi said. "Countries like India, the US and Germany cannot rely only on services. Democracies must ask themselves how production can happen in a democratic environment, what models are needed, and what partnerships India, the US and Europe can build."

He linked the manufacturing shift to rising political polarisation, stating that joblessness has contributed significantly to turbulence in India, Europe and the US. "A huge part of the unrest we are seeing is because people do not have jobs-and that is because we said, 'China, you produce for the world,'" he added.

Flagging the prevalence of Chinese goods in Indian markets, Gandhi said India possesses the population, cost advantage and capability to become a major manufacturing hub but has failed to do so. "Everything around us is made in China. For a country like India, that is a serious problem. We have the capability and cost structure to produce, but we simply haven't done it yet," he said.

Gandhi also spoke about shifting global power dynamics, claiming that US dominance is being challenged for the first time in decades. "We lived in a unipolar world from the 1990s till about 2014, during which India benefited greatly from US hegemony," he said, adding that American influence is now declining militarily, economically and financially.

"For the first time, that hegemony is being effectively challenged. There is a challenge to the US dollar and the financial system, and the US is struggling internally and retreating from its earlier global role," he claimed.

Rahul Gandhi is currently on a five-day visit to Germany. His remarks follow earlier comments on declining manufacturing in India. During a visit to the BMW World museum in Munich on December 17, he said manufacturing remains the backbone of strong economies but is weakening in India. "To accelerate growth, we must produce more, build robust manufacturing ecosystems and create quality jobs at scale," he had said.

The BJP, however, dismissed Gandhi's claims. Party spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari termed the remarks "fake news" and cited government data to counter them, claiming a 495 per cent rise in electronics manufacturing over the past decade, a 760 per cent jump in electronics exports, and a 14-fold increase in automobile manufacturing since 1991.

(With inputs from ANI)