'Rahul Gandhi should do some homework': Devendra Fadnavis hits back at LoP over 'Assembly as many iPhones as you want...' remark

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday countered Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's claims on the Modi government's Make in India policy. Fadnavis slammed the Gandhi scion for allegedly being clueless about Make in India and all that is being manufactured in India. 

On Friday, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha suggested that the Modi government's Make in India initiative was a failure.

"Rahul Gandhi does not know Make in India, he does not know what is manufactured in our country," Fadnavis told reporters in Nagpur. To counter Gandhi's claims, he also said that India will soon become the third-largest economy in the world.

Fadnavis urged Rahul Gandhi to do some research before speaking on policy matters. "He may not even know that India's economy was at the 11th rank during their government, and PM Modi made India the 5th largest economy in 10 years. We will become the 3rd largest economy in the next two years. Rahul Gandhi should do some homework."

Interacting with technicians in Delhi's Nehru Place, he said that manufacturing was at record lows and most products, such as mobiles, were being "assembled in India", and not being built in the country.

Sharing the video of the interaction on X, he wrote that electronic parts were being imported and assembled in India, which ended up benefiting China in the process. "Modi ji has mastered the art of slogans, not solutions. Since 2014, manufacturing has fallen to 14% of our economy," Gandhi further wrote in his post on X. 

He further highlighted that employment would be generated by "made in India" and not "assembled in". "Assemble as many iPhones as you want, all you are doing is giving money to the big oligopolies of India," Rahul Gandhi said.

Explaining his emphasis on manufacturing vs assembling in India, the Gandhi scion said: "People think made in India and assembled in India are the same. But they are different. Until India gets itself into manufacturing, it will be left behind. China has complete control over the mobile and laptop manufacturing industry."