Congress built banks, BJP is selling them: Rahul Gandhi's attack over IDBI Bank sale

Rahul Gandhi has backed IDBI Bank employees opposing the Centre's proposed majority stake sale to Fairfax. His open letter questions the rationale and flags concerns for workers, depositors and reservation policies.Gandhi also expressed support for the employees' opposition to the proposed transaction, stating that he stood with them in their fight. (Credits: PTI)Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has backed IDBI Bank employees opposing the Centre's proposed sale of its majority stake in the lender to Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings, accusing the government of selling a profitable public institution built with taxpayers' money.In an open letter to the bank's employees, Gandhi questioned the rationale behind privatising IDBI Bank and raised concerns over the impact of the proposed transaction on employees, depositors and reservation policies.His intervention comes amid fresh questions over the valuation process for the proposed sale, with a Businessworld investigation flagging the timing of a revised valuation exercise and changes in its methodology. (Credits: X/Rahul Gandhi) Recalling a meeting with a group of IDBI Bank employees at Parliament House in March last year, Gandhi said they had asked him why the government was selling a bank that its employees had helped make profitable. "I took that question to the Lok Sabha. I asked why a profitable public bank was being sold, and how its employees and depositors would be protected. The government gave no reason. Now it has decided to sell IDBI Bank to Fairfax, a Canadian company," he wrote.Gandhi also referred to a 2003 assurance given by the government to Parliament that it would always retain at least 51 per cent ownership in IDBI Bank. "An institution built with public money belongs to the public.... In 2003, the government promised Parliament that it would always hold at least fifty-one per cent of IDBI," he said.He added that although the assurance might not be legally binding, it represented a commitment made to the people of India. (Credits: X/Rahul Gandhi) GANDHI WARNS OF IMPACT ON RESERVATION, EMPLOYEES' RIGHTSThe Congress leader argued that the proposed privatisation could affect reservation provisions for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs)."When IDBI is privately owned, reservation for SC, ST and OBC candidates will go with it. Your service conditions, already weakened, will lose their last protection," Gandhi wrote.He said the Congress believed in a strong public sector functioning alongside private enterprises and maintained that public sector banks were institutions for nation-building rather than assets to be sold."I stand with you in your fight today, and fully support all your legitimate demands," he added.Bank employee unions have opposed the Centre's disinvestment plan, raising concerns over the future of employees and the bank's public sector status.- Ends