Atmanirbhar Bharat not possible if socioeconomic disparities don't end: Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari, a Union Minister, stated on Friday that achieving the aim of Atmanirbhar Bharat, or an independent India, is impossible without reducing socioeconomic disparities in the country.

The minister of road transport and highway said more attention needs to be given to the agricultural, rural and tribal sectors, and pointed out that the objective of each government policy must be to double the contribution to GDP of these segments to 25 per cent from the present 12 per cent.

In the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, the central government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi established the Atmanirbhar Bharat aim.

If socioeconomic disparity does not end then the Atmanirbhar Bharat is not possible, Gadkari said at an event to release a book on RBI Governors here. The socialist and communist ideology has been completely sidelined over time, and the number of CPI and CPI(M) members in the Parliament has also thinned out over time, Gadkari said.

Recalling his visit to China as the BJP president a few years ago on an invite from the Communist Party of China, Gadkari said only the red flags remain while the country adopted a market-centric approach to growth.