I'm not anti-business, I'm anti-monopoly: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday asserted that he was not "anti-business" as being projected by the BJP but was "anti-monopoly" and "anti-creating oligopolies".
His remarks came a day after he penned an opinion piece in The Indian Express in which he said the original East India Company wound up over 150 years ago but the raw fear it then generated is back with a new breed of monopolists having taken its place.
Gandhi, however, had asserted that a "new deal for progressive Indian business is an idea whose time has come".
In a video posted on X on Thursday, Gandhi said, "I want to make something absolutely clear, I have been projected by my opponents in the BJP to be anti-business. I am not anti-business in the least, I am anti-monopoly, I am anti-creating oligopolies, I am anti-domination of business by one or 2 or 5 people."
"I started my career as a management consultant and I understand the type of things that are required for a business to succeed. So I just want to repeat, I am not anti-business, I am anti-monopoly," the former Congress chief said.
In his post accompanying the video, Gandhi said, "I am pro-Jobs, pro-Business, pro-Innovation, pro-Competition. I am anti-Monopoly."
"Our economy will thrive when there is free and fair space for all businesses," Gandhi asserted.
In his article, Gandhi had said India was silenced by the East India Company and it was silenced not by its business prowess, but by its chokehold.
The Company choked India by partnering with, bribing, and threatening more pliant maharajas and nawabs, he pointed out.
"It controlled our banking, bureaucratic, and information networks. We didn't lose our freedom to another nation; we lost it to a monopolistic corporation that ran a coercive apparatus," he said.
The original East India Company wound up over 150 years ago, but the raw fear it then generated is back, he claimed.
A new breed of monopolists has taken its place, amassing colossal wealth, even as India has become far more unequal and unfair for everybody else, Gandhi had said.
The BJP had slammed Gandhi for making "baseless accusations" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked him to examine facts before jumping to conclusions.
Hitting back at the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the BJP wrote on X: "Another baseless accusation against the Modi government through the so-called 'match-fixing monopoly groups versus fair-play businesses' is simply misleading."
"Dear Baalak Buddhi, do not jump to conclusions without examining facts," the saffron party said in a veiled reference to Gandhi.
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No need for guv: DMK leader Kanimozhi
Chennai (PTI): Senior DMK leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi on Friday reiterated her party’s opposition to the office of the governor amid uncertainty over government formation in Tamil Nadu after a fractured election mandate.
Speaking to PTI Videos, Kanimozhi emphasised that the DMK’s demand for the abolition of the governor’s post remained unchanged, especially as questions arise over constitutional propriety during the current political transition.
"Our position that we do not need a governor at all is something the DMK has never changed at any point in time," she said.
When asked about the governor’s actions following the election results—particularly the delay in inviting the leading party to form the government—Kanimozhi pointed to what she described as the "inherent friction" between the office of the governor and the political interests of the state.
She said the current situation "raises a lot of questions" and requires introspection regarding constitutional procedures.
Kanimozhi described the election results as lacking a "clear mandate", which she identified as the primary reason for the prevailing political uncertainty in the state.
"What the people decide is supreme," she said, adding that while the mandate was not decisive, it must be respected.
The Thoothukudi MP attributed the ongoing delays and "many confusions" to the absence of a decisive majority for any single party.
She firmly dismissed rumours about the DMK potentially supporting the AIADMK from outside to help stabilise the government.
She described such reports as mere "speculation" and "rumours".
"We can’t be responding to every rumour," she said, declining to comment on the AIADMK’s claims regarding its numbers to form the government.
The political situation in Tamil Nadu remains fluid as stakeholders await the governor’s next constitutional step in an Assembly where no party has secured a clear majority.
The DMK and AIADMK—both of which suffered significant losses to the TVK—are reportedly exploring tactical manoeuvres to navigate the hung Assembly.
The TVK, with 108 seats and the support of Congress’s five MLAs, is still short of the majority mark. The DMK and AIADMK secured 59 and 47 seats, respectively.
