India will overtake China when there is communal harmony: Rahul

In an oblique attack on the BJP, which opinion polls predict as likely to form the next government, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Saturday said that India is set to overtake China in economic growth in the next five years - but only if there is communal and regional harmony in the country.

"India is in a very good position in the world today. In five years we will overtake China's economy, but this target can be achieved only when there is brotherhood among people. If Hindus and Muslims are fighting, if people of Maharashtra are fighting with people from Uttar Pradesh, then we will not progress," Gandhi said in an interview to Headlines Today news channel.

To the point that economic growth has come down in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) tenure, Gandhi said the UPA has given better growth rate than the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

"In recent time the growth rate has come down but that is also because of the global recession," he said.

Gandhi added that growth was possible only when there was partnership between the poor and the industrialists, and that his Congress aimed at creating that partnership.