CAIT - India’s Apex Business Body Of Over 7 Crore Traders Announces Support For BJP In Lok Sabha Polls

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the apex body of business community representing over seven crore traders across the country, on Sunday (21 April) declared its support to Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and its allies in the Lok Sabha election.

The traders’ body said that the decision based on analysing the election manifesto of various political parties and what it feels would be the best for the country.

CAIT is a grouping of over 40,000 trade associations and federations across the country and its decision to support NDA is a seen as huge boost to the latter’s electoral prospects. CAIT also claims that there are about 195 Lok Sabha seats where traders are in a position to determine the outcome.

CAIT said it performed a comparative analysis of the election manifesto of both the national parties - BJP and Congress and came to a conclusion that BJP has given much more prominence and priority to traders by including some of their fundamental core issues in its manifesto. CAIT cited and lauded the following promises in the BJP manifesto:

• Establishing National Traders Welfare Board
• Rolling Out National Policy for Retail Trade
• Pension to traders attaining the age of 60 years
• Accidental Insurance of Rs.10 lakh to traders registered under GST
• Merchant Credit Card on the pattern of Kisan Credit Card
• Loans up to Rs. 50 lakhs without any collateral security

“The implementation of all these issues will certainly develop internal trade of the Country and will make available various new business opportunities to traders and growth in employment”, CAIT statement added.

CAIT National President B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal informed that this decision has been after consulting prominent trade leaders of the different states “The meeting also considered the feedback received from traders across Country. The CAIT is engaged in gigantic task to ensure decisive and prominent role of traders in Lok Sabha polls,” they said.

Both Bhartia and Khandelwal informed that after this decision of CAIT, the traders across the Country will engage themselves in making Modi led NDA victorious and will play an important role in bringing a positive political atmosphere in favour of the BJP.

“The trade associations across the country will hold meetings of traders in large numbers in commercial markets and will promote traders to vote and support BJP and its allies in Lok Sabha polls,” they added.

Earlier last month, CAIT had strongly criticised Congress President Rahul Gandhi's statement on abolishing GST if voted to power, saying he does not have a blueprint of any alternative tax structure.

“The attempt of Gandhi for seeking political mileage making traders a scapegoat is deeply regretted and vehemently opposed by CAIT”, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal had said.

On 19 April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a traders’ convention at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi, said that his Government has worked to simplify lives and businesses of traders by scraping 1,500 antiquated laws and will continue to do so.

He also promised that shopkeepers will get pension and traders collateral-free loans up to Rs 50 lakh if a BJP-led government is re-elected.