'When we talk to US, we should not send our foreign minister....': Rahul on why India lacks heft in diplomacy

Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha.

Replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi slammed the Narendra Modi government for failing to develop a production ecosystem, whereby mandating a need to send our foreign minister to the US to seek an invitation for Prime Minister Modi. He attributed New Delhi's lack of heft in foreign diplomacy to a definitive edge that the United State has due to its access to troves of production data.

He took a jibe at the Modi dispensation on invitation to US President Donald Trump's inaugural ceremony.

The LoP reasoned that India's failure to develop into a production powerhouse resulted in the 'changed dynamics' witnessed in the arena of international affairs. Drawing an analogy between the capacity of a nation to organize production and its concomitant global heft in international affairs, he said, India's failure to organize production has impacted its global standing on foreign affairs. He said India must take this aspect of modern economy into consideration when it frames policies on foreign affairs.

He said, a quick study of Indian economic scenario outlines how India has handed over the responsibility to organize production to various Chinese companies. Elaborating further, he said the new technological revolution brought about by artificial intelligence and machine learning is powered by data. Countries that have achieved control over these aspects of technology will have an upper hand in years to come. Additionally, the Congress leader iterated that India has handed over the consumption data to big American companies and is bereft of any meaningful production data.

Speaking on the much-needed drivers of a modern, growing economy, Gandhi reiterated that manufacturing/ production forms the bedrock of an emerging economy. The LoP went on to say that the President's Address failed to provide a blueprint for the youth. "We have as a country failed in organizing production and handed it over to the Chinese," remarked Rahul.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju objected to Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi's remarks on PM Modi over the inaugural ceremony of US President Donald Trump. Rijiju said: "Leader of Opposition cannot make such serious unsubstantial statement. This is related to the relation between two countries and he is making an unverified statement about the invitation of the Prime Minister of our country...."