BHOPAL: The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call off the "unfair" India-US trade deal after the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's global tariffs.
“In the wake of the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling, many nations are reconsidering/cancelling their pacts with the US. I challenge PM Narendra Modi, if he has the courage and guts, then he should also call off the unfair India-US trade deal. I know he won’t do it, BJP workers, I’m telling you, he (Modi) won’t do it, because he is under tremendous pressure from President Trump and the US. The fear of the Epstein Files and criminal case against Adani is hanging over his head,” Gandhi said, while addressing Congress’ first nationwide Kisan Mahachaupal against the India-US trade deal, which was held in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal.
“I can give it in writing, had he (Modi) not been under pressure, he wouldn’t have done it (signed the deal with the US). He has sold India, interests of farmers, textiles and garment sectors, and handed over India’s entire data to the US, just to save his image and political future. But let me tell you all, he won’t get away. No power can save him,” Gandhi said.
Recounting what happened in the Lok Sabha earlier this month, when he quoted an unpublished memoir of former army chief General MM Naravane, the LoP claimed, “PM Modi left the Parliament suddenly, then dialled President Trump and told him that he was ready to sign the India-US trade deal on whatever terms the US President wanted him to. The US President has already posted on X that India’s PM dialled him and told him that he was ready to sign the deal.”
“But what hurried the signing of the deal, which was hanging fire for four months, particularly as the Government of India, didn’t want to open India to US companies’ agricultural products, including soybean, corn, cotton and pulses? What hastened the sudden signing of the deal by PM Modi, who didn’t get it cleared from the union cabinet or took into confidence his senior cabinet colleagues, including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari. Why is PM Modi silent on it?”
“I’ll tell you, the deal was hastened as per the wishes of President Trump due to two reasons, firstly, the fear of the Epstein Files and secondly, the criminal case against Adani (Indian industrialist Gautam Adani in the US). Lakhs of Epstein Files (messages, e-mails and videos) remain unreleased. What has been released so far, including the ones bearing references about union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and industrialist Anil Ambani are just threats to PM Modi to fall in line with what the US wanted. Anil Ambani is not my friend.”
“PM Modi has sold our country to the US, it’s not just me who’s saying this, it’s there in the heart of every RSS-BJP worker. They all know that PM Modi has been choked through two grips by the US, including the fear of the unreleased Epstein Files and the criminal case against Adani, whose real target is Modi only. The India-US trade deal is an arrow in every Indian farmer’s heart. In the 21st century, whoever has the highest data, actually holds the clout globally. Housing the highest population, India holds the maximum data in the world followed by China. The US knew very well that Indian data was crucial for it to take on China. The Indian data will be handed over to the US through the unfair trade deal,” Gandhi alleged.
The LoP also asked PM Modi to tell what India has actually attained through the trade deal. “I’ll tell you India has got nothing. On the contrary, it’s actually Bangladesh which is going to benefit, as the US has decided zero reciprocal tariff on certain textile and apparel goods from China.”
Addressing the same Kisan Mahachaupal, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge compared US President Donald Trump's behaviour -- particularly his disregard for the US Supreme Court’s verdict on tariffs -- with the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq and drew parallels between PM Modi and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler.
"The deal between both of them is going to ruin our farmers and industry. For the last 8-10 years, PM Modi has said President Trump was his close friend and often praised himself for being a real patriot. Had he been a real patriot, he (Modi) wouldn’t have sold India’s interests to President Trump through the unfair deal. I haven’t seen such a cowardly PM in sixty years of my political career.”