Rahul Gandhi slams Indo-US trade deal, FM Sitharaman rebuts sharply

Rahul Gandhi alleges India 'surrendered' in US trade pact; Centre rejects charge, says no one can sell or buy the country

Intensifying his attack on the government over the India-US trade deal, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “surrendered” the future of 1.5 billion Indians to protect the “Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) financial architecture”.

 

Participating in the debate on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi accused the government of having sold “Bharat Mata” in the interim trade deal, and termed it a “wholesale surrender” to the US of India’s energy security, interests of its farmers, its textile sector and data.

 

In her reply to the discussion on the Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rebutted Gandhi’s claims that India has “surrendered” to the US. “Koi mai ka laal paida nahin hua jo humare desh ko bechde ya kharid le (no one has the audacity to sell or buy out India),” she said.

 

 

Sitharaman alleged that the Congress-led UPA government “surrendered” the interests of India’s farmers and poor before the World Trade Organisation. The FM said the government is incentivising data centres so that data stays in India.

 

“I am saying you have sold India. Are you not ashamed of selling India? You have sold our mother - Bharat Mata. Do you have no shame?” Gandhi said, slamming the treasury benches.

 

Gandhi said he refuses to believe that any Indian prime minister, including Modi, would agree to such a deal unless there is a “chokehold” on him.

 

After Gandhi finished his speech, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said in the House that no one can sell or buy India.

 

Gandhi began his speech by drawing an analogy from jujutsu, a traditional Japanese martial art centered on using an opponent's force against them, grip choke, of which he is a practitioner, and how a chokehold works in jujutsu.

 

Later in his speech, Gandhi asked, “Why has he (Modi) sold India- because they (the US) are choking him. They have a grip on his neck.” He also referred to the Epstein case and that “three million files are still locked up”, and mentioned a couple of industrialists, one of which, Gandhi alleged, was introduced to Jeffery Epstein by Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The chair asked Gandhi to not take names of the industrialists.

 

When Rijiju asked him to authenticate his allegations, Gandhi said he was willing to do so, but the chair said he should put it on the table of the House. Later, addressing a press briefing at the BJP headquarters, Puri said that the so-called “Epstein files” references have been “cherry-picked, misinterpreted, and used repeatedly for political theatre”. He explained that his meetings with Jeffery Epstein were official in nature.

 

Later, speaking to the media, Rijiju alleged that Gandhi’s speech was “full of lies” and the ruling alliance will seek to expunge from the House records the “lies” he has spoken. “I know he cannot authenticate them because he lied. He lied in the House.”

 

Rijiju said Gandhi’s allegations against Petroleum Minister Puri were made without giving any notice, which is a breach of privilege. He said the ruling alliance will bring a privilege motion against Gandhi.

 

In his speech in the Lok Sabha, the Congress leader identified the country’s people, their data, food supply and energy as the most important interests that a country needs to protect in the current turbulent and dangerous world.

 

He said the government has not just “buckled on tariffs”, but given up “our data”, its control over digital trade rules, there is no data localisation, while there will be free flow of data to the US. The government has agreed to no source code disclosure and given a 20-year tax holiday.

 

He said India’s farmers, especially those who grow soybean, cotton, maize and red sorghum have been “left to the mercy of” massive mechanised American farms, and after the Bangladesh-US trade deal, India’s textile industry will be “wiped out”, and our energy security has been handed over” to the US.

 

He said with the deal with the US, the government has “opened the door to crush our poor farmers. It is disgraceful”, he said, adding, “No Prime Minister has ever done this before and let me tell you, no Prime Minister after you, is ever going to do it.”

 

Gandhi said that had an INDIA bloc government negotiated the trade agreement with the US, it would have told President Donald Trump that he should treat India as an equal. We would have said to President Trump that if he wants access to India’s data, “then you will talk to us as an equal, not talk to us as if we are your servants”.

 

He said an INDIA bloc government would have told Trump that India's energy security is non-negotiable and “we are going to protect our energy security”. “The third thing we would have told President Trump is that 'we understand you have an agricultural voter base, you need to protect farmers, but we will also protect our farmers'," the former Congress chief said.

 

Gandhi said that an INDIA bloc government would have negotiated with the US as an equal. “We will not be made equal to Pakistan. If President Trump decides that the Pakistan Army chief will have breakfast with him, we will have something to say about it,” Gandhi said.

 

The LoP said that under the agreement, “Our PM will not decide” but the US will decide “who we buy oil from” and if India buys oil from a country that they do not want us to purchase it from, they will punish us and take tariffs to 50 per cent, Gandhi said.

 

During his speech, MPs from the treasury benches repeatedly got up and accused Gandhi of making “baseless” allegations and asked him to authenticate his claims, to which Gandhi responded that he is willing to comply.

 

The Congress leader referred to a case against an Indian industrialist in the US, and alleged that the government has not allowed summons being served on that industrialist. Jagdambika Pal, who was chairing the session, asked Gandhi not to name those who are not members of the House.

 

On tariffs, at the beginning, there was a 3 per cent average, but it has now gone up to 18 per cent, Gandhi said. US imports would go up from $46 billion to $146 billion, he said, adding that this is absurd. While our tariff has gone up from 3 per cent to 18 per cent, theirs has come down from 16 to zero, he said.