The Congress on Saturday demanded that the India-US interim trade agreement be put on hold after the American Supreme Court struck down the sweeping global tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

Questioning the Centre’s haste in issuing a joint statement with the US on the deal before the US Supreme Court could rule on the matter, the Congress demanded a renegotiation and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to “surrender”.

Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi posted on X: “The PM is compromised. His betrayal now stands exposed. He can’t renegotiate. He will surrender again.”

The Congress has stood by members of its youth wing who protested at the AI Summit by taking off their shirts and raising slogans such as “PM is compromised” on Friday.

The BJP staged demonstrations outside Congress offices in several cities, showed black flags to Rahul in Maharashtra’s Thane, and exchanged brickbats with Congress workers at the latter’s office in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore. In Bhopal, Congress workers defended their office with lathis, and armed police were deployed to prevent a clash with the BJP members.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X: “Why did the Modi Govt not wait for the US Supreme Court judgment on tariffs before rushing to fall into a TRAP DEAL, which extracted huge concessions from India?

“The joint statement spoke of zero tariffs on several American exports to India, virtually opening up India’s agriculture to American goods, a plan to import $500 billion worth of US goods, a commitment to halt purchasing Russian oil hurting our energy security and several tax concessions on the digital front.

“Modiji must stand before Indians and tell the truth. 1. What or Who pressured you into compromising India’s national interest and strategic autonomy? Was it Epstein Files? 2. Will the GOI wake up from its deep slumber and deliver a fair trade deal that preserves the self-respect of 140 crore Indians and the interest of our farmers, workers, small businesses and traders?”

Congress communications head Jairam Ramesh linked the hurried announcement of the trade deal to Rahul’s remarks in Parliament on former army chief M.M. Naravane’s book.

“On February 2, President Trump announced the deal, stating that he is happy that a deal has been reached and on the request of the Prime Minister this is effective immediately.... We believe that this was connected with Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in the Lok Sabha, raising the issue of China and former army chief Naravane’s book. We believe that in order to divert from that, PM Modi requested Trump to announce this (deal),” Ramesh told reporters.

“Trump has also stated that nothing has changed for the Indo-US trade deal. So we want to ask the PM, does he agree with his friend’s statement that the verdict will have no impact on the deal?” he added.

The CPM-backed All India Kisan Sabha demanded the scrapping of the deal. “The US Supreme Court was seized of the matter that the Narendra Modi-led BJP-NDA government surrendered our sovereign rights and agreed to a humiliating lopsided trade deal in favour of predatory agribusinesses and rich capitalist farmers in the USA,” it said in a statement.

“The Sangh Parivar’s role as agents of imperialism in the last hundred years is again proved; their loyalty to British imperialism earlier and to US imperialism now stands exposed,” it added.