NEW DELHI: After being repeatedly blocked from quoting ex-Army Chief General M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir in the Lok Sabha last week, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday mounted a sharp attack on the government over the India-US trade deal framework, accusing the Modi administration of having “sold off the nation” and terming it as a “wholesale surrender”.
Participating in the debate on the Union Budget, Rahul said he does not believe that any Indian PM, including Narendra Modi, would agree to such a deal unless there is a “chokehold” on him.
“Why has he sold India? Because the US are choking him. They have a grip on his neck.”
Rahul asserted that the trade agreement had undermined farmers’ interests, destroyed the textile sector, and handed India’s energy security to the US. Calling it a surrender of the future of 1.5 billion Indians, he said it was driven by the need to protect the BJP’s financial architecture, which he said is facing scrutiny in the US. “The US will decide who we buy oil from. They will monitor.”
He accused the government of opening the door to mechanised American farms, thereby crushing India’s small farmers, and called the move disgraceful, saying that no PM before had done such a thing, nor would any after him. “How can you come to this House and defend this? Are you not ashamed of what you are giving away? Are you not ashamed of selling India? You have sold our mother — Bharat Mata?” he said.
The House saw heated exchanges after Rahul referred to Union minister Hardeep Puri and industrialist Anil Ambani in connection with mentions in the Epstein files.
Charges baseless: Puri
Dismissing Rahul’s allegations as baseless, Union minister Hardeep Puri said, “He has a habit of making baseless allegations and lying.” Puri said he had met Epstein only a few times as part of an official delegation and had exchanged just one email with him. He added that he had limited interactions with Epstein and had no connection whatsoever to the crimes later associated with him.