AAP concerned about middlemen, not common man: Anand Sharma

Says tens of thousands of jobs will be created in rural as well as urban areas in processing, sorting and packaging

Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma today lashed out at the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Admi party saying that they are more concerned about the interest of the middlemen and not the common man for their decision to restrict foreign direct investment (FDI) in multibrand retail trading (MBRT).

“My question is are they aware that this process of consultation has gone into, are they aware that conditionalities are in place? Whether farmers, small entrepreneurs, consumers are part of the lexicon called Aam Admi or are they excluded from them? And what seems to come across is that they seem to be more concerned about the interest of the middleman,” Sharma told reporters here today.

 Referring to Kejriwal’s decision of withdrawing FDI in MBRT in Delhi as “irresponsible, ill-considered, abrupt and arbitrary” Sharma said their argument that allowing FDI in MBRT will result in widespread job losses in “laughable” while he admitted to receiving a communication from the Delhi CM in this matter.

He said, on the contrary, tens of thousands of jobs will be created in the rural as well as urban areas in processing, sorting and packaging.

The minister’s remarks comes a day after the Delhi government shot a letter to the central government urging withdrawal FDI in MBRT in Delhi since they believe that the entry of foreign retail chains such as Tesco and Wal-Mart will lead to massive job losses. Delhi had allowed FDI in MBRT under former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

He said once a policy gets notified, it cannot be withdrawn and that the government has to follow a due process after examining their demand.

“If you have populism which misinforms and pushes society to anarchy- it does not bode well for Indian democracy. Another issue is does India not have organized retail? There are big corporate engaged in multi brand retail for last more than two decades with thousands of stores across the country without any conditionality. FDI is only different colour of money, there is no difference in the ground reality,” he added referring to the presence of Reliance Group, Tata, Future Group and Aditya Birla.

Presently, 51% FDI is allowed in MBRT. British retail major Tesco has been the first global retail chain to enter the market with $110 million.