New Delhi: Amid continuing disruption at airports across the country following widespread IndiGo flight cancellations, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has accused the Centre of being responsible for the crisis, arguing that it stems from what he described as the Modi government’s monopoly-driven economic framework.
Posting on X, he wrote: “IndiGo fiasco is the cost of this Govt’s monopoly model. Once again, it’s ordinary Indians who pay the price - in delays, cancellations and helplessness. India deserves fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies.”
He also shared an article titled “A new deal for Indian business”, expanding on his criticism of monopolistic structures. “Match-fixing monopoly groups vs fair-play businesses - moment has come to choose freedom over fear,” he added.
The Congress leader likened today’s corporate “monopolisation” to colonial-era practices, arguing that India had once been subdued not by a foreign nation but by the East India Company’s stranglehold. “It was silenced not by its business prowess, but by its chokehold. The company choked India by partnering with, bribing. and threatening our more pliant maharajas and nawabs. It controlled our banking, bureaucratic, and information networks,” he said, adding that present-day India faced a resurgence of similar fear and concentration of power.
He claimed that while the East India Company ceased to exist more than 150 years ago, a new crop of monopolists had emerged, accumulating immense wealth even as inequality deepened. “Our institutions no longer belong to our people, they do the bidding of monopolists. Lakhs of businesses have been decimated and India is unable to generate jobs for her youth,” he said, contending that monopolisation of resources had “wounded” the country.
Calling for reforms in sectors including aviation, Gandhi argued that the government must serve as an impartial regulator rather than a patron of select corporate interests. “The government cannot be allowed to support one business at the expense of all others … Government agencies are not weapons to be used to attack and intimidate businesses,” he said.
He added that while monopolists should not be vilified as individuals, the system must ensure fair space for all businesses. “I believe a new deal for progressive Indian business is an idea whose time has come,” he wrote in the article.
(Inputs from IANS)