Ashwani Mahajan, the face of RSS's economic wing Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), on Thursday, 16 January, lashed out at Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, accusing him of being sympathetic towards e-commerce giant Amazon and its owner and global CEO Jeff Bezos, who is on a three-day visit to India.
After Kant tweeted an article, claiming, "Amazon will export $10 billion Make in India goods by 2025, says Jeff Bezos," Mahajan launched an offensive against the Niti Aayog chief.
The SJM national co-convenor tweeted: "Shri @amitabhk87 ji We r perturbed by your unending love for Amazon, given the scenario that crores of small traders are on streets persecuted by deep discounts and flaunting of rules by the company, @CCI_India and ED instituting enquiry against their wrongs." [sic]
He also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his tweet.
Soon in another tweet targeting Kant, Mahajan highlighted Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's assertion that "Amazon's fresh $1B investment in India is not a big favor."
Mahajan tweeted: "Kudos @PiyushGoyal you are absolutely right. Kindly enlighten Shri @amitabhk87 also, because he seems to be deeply impressed by the company, especially $1 billion."
The small and medium businesses have been up against Bezos ever since he landed in Delhi on Tuesday, claiming Amazon's expansion in India will mean the death of domestic business. SJM has been spearheading the opposition to Amazon for some time now.
On Wednesday, Bezos announced an investment of USD 1 billion in small and medium businesses in India. He also announced that the e-commerce major, through its global footprint, will help SMBs export products worth USD 10 billion by 2025.
The Amazon CEO's India visit comes at a crucial time as the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered an inquiry into the business practices of e-commerce majors Amazon and Flipkart.
Traders have staged protests across India against Bezos' visit under the aegis of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). CAIT has been protesting for the past few months against what it calls "deep" discounts offered by the e-commerce platforms.
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