FARRUKHABAD: Rahul Gandhi has come out in full-throated support of foreign direct investment in retail. Turning the government’s FDI setback into a poll weapon, Rahul on Friday asserted the Centre would implement the suspended policy. He slammed the opposition for sabotaging a move that would give farmers a higher return on their produce.

Rahul dubbed the anti-FDI position of Congess’s rivals – ranging from SP , BSP to BJP — as a betrayal of farmers, while pitching FDI in retail as a panacea to farmers of this region, known as the ‘potato belt’ of UP. Potato prices have hit rock bottom here.

On his way to Kannauj, Rahul visited potato fields where he saw the produce rotting and “pigs gorging on them”. At Ismailpur, he stopped at a roadside dhaba and asked a gathering of locals if they knew about FDI.

The stridency contrasted with the way UPA agreed to suspend the decision to appease rebellious allies and the opposition after they refused to allow Parliament to function.

Coming a couple of days after the PM’s assertion that the policy would be rolled out by March, Rahul’s pitch (reminiscent of his backing the nuclear deal) should rally the party and clear the way for entry of foreign multi-brand retail giants.

Surprising all, Rahul told election gatherings across Farrukhabad and Kannauj that FDI would solve the puzzle of a kilogram of potato fetching Rs 2 or less to the farmer and a packet of potato chips costing Rs 10.

“A packet of chips is made from just half a potato,” he added, virtually turning the opposition to FDI into a conspiracy against farmers.

Though a bold pitch, the advocacy for retail is not free of the risk of alienating Vaishyas: the traditional traders who are a factor in UP towns and who have increasingly been assertive in the political arena as well. The fallout among this constituency was one of the reasons why the Congress leadership persuaded the Prime Minister to put the decision on hold.

On Friday, no doubts assailed Rahul as he launched an aggressive defence of FDI. He said foreign investment would bring in cold chains and processing units while establishing a direct contact between buyers and farmers, cutting out middlemen. In Kannauj, he went a step further to add “that opposition notwithstanding, UPA will bring FDI in retail.”

Times View

Rahul Gandhi deserves our congratulations for the political courage he has shown in speaking up for FDI in retail in the midst of a poll campaign in UP. Clearly, like this newspaper, he is convinced that the move would be genuinely beneficial for many more people than it would do harm. Unfortunately, his party and the government it presides over have not shown the same courage of conviction and chose to back off in the face of opposition. The government might protest that it is unfairly being accused of policy paralysis, but it could have let its deeds do the talking by sticking to a decision it had taken in the country’s interests.