PM Modi 'sold out' farmers' hard work: Rahul slams govt over India-US trade deal

New Delhi: Opposition on Tuesday mounted a spirited attack on the Union government over the Indo-US trade deal with the Congress claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "buckled" under US pressure to finalise a trade deal and "sold out" the hard work of the Indian farmers through the agreement.

While MPs raised the issue in Lok Sabha forcing an adjournment for almost an hour, Opposition lawmakers walked out of Rajya Sabha in protest against the trade deal.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said farmers must understand that there has been a "sell-out" of their hard work, as well as their blood and sweat, by Modi through the deal as he is "compromised".

"He has not just sold you off, but the whole country. That is why they are not allowing me to speak (in Parliament)," he told reporters in Parliament.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau said in a statement that the announcement has generated "euphoria in the corporate media" but it is "completely misplaced" as the details of the agreement are not yet available.

Though one can make a proper assessment only when the full scope and details of the trade deal are available, it pointed out that Trump's announcement states that Indian goods imports will face a 18% tariff, while India reduces tariffs and non-tariff barriers on US goods to zero.

"Eliminating tariffs will result in flooding the country with US goods which will adversely impact industries and workers’ livelihoods. Removal of non-tariff barriers would mean eliminating subsidies and other measures which support Indian farmers,” it said.

“Trump has claimed that India has agreed to stop buying Russian oil and committed to buy USD 500 billions worth of US energy, technology and farm products. This, if true, shows up the highly unequal nature of the trade deal with India in a subordinate position, circumscribing its sovereignty," it added.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, "India's millions of farmers want to know what the terms of this trade agreement are? Is the Modi government planning to fully open the Indian agricultural sector to America? Will the government thrust Indian farmers into direct competition with American companies? Has a compromise been made on the interests of our farmers? The situation must be clarified immediately before the public."

Hitting out at the government, Congress Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh said that India stands "diminished by this unfortunate sequence of events" and from the information President Donald Trump has provided, it is "abundantly clear" that Modi has "completely surrendered".

"In his Truth Social post late last night, President Trump wrote that the India-US trade deal was being announced and coming into effect immediately at Mr. Modi's request. That request was no doubt made to create diversionary headlines because his cowardice and capitulation to China had been exposed by Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha yesterday afternoon," Ramesh posted on 'X'.

He demanded that the text of both the EU and US trade deals must be laid on the table of both Houses and debated, "especially since the US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has issued a statement claiming that India has liberalised agricultural imports from the US".