The trade deal with the US “cheats” cotton farmers and textile exporters of India, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi claimed on Saturday.
“18 per cent tariff vs 0 per cent — let me explain how the expert liar prime minister and his cabinet are spreading confusion on this issue,” Rahul wrote in Hindi on X with a video.
“And how they are cheating India’s cotton farmers and textile exporters through the India–US trade deal.”
Bangladesh, he pointed out, “is being given 0 per cent tariff benefit on garment exports to the US — the only condition is that they import American cotton.”
He added: “After the announcement of 18 per cent tariff on Indian garments, when I raised the question in Parliament about the special concession being given to Bangladesh, the reply from a minister of the Modi government was: ‘If we also want the same benefit, we will have to import cotton from America’.”
The Congress leader asked why this fact was “hidden from the country” till now.
“And what kind of policy is this? Is this really any kind of choice — or is it a trap designed to push us into a devil and deep sea situation? If we import American cotton, our own farmers will be ruined. If we don’t import it, our textile industry will lag behind and get destroyed,” he said.
“And now Bangladesh is also giving signals that it may reduce or even stop importing cotton from India.”
He called the textile industry and cotton farming “the backbone of livelihood in India”.
“Crores of people’s daily bread depend on these very sectors. Attacking these sectors means pushing millions of families into the pit of unemployment and economic crisis. A visionary government that thinks in the national interest would have negotiated a deal that protects and ensures the prosperity of both cotton farmers and textile exporters,” he said.
“But exactly the opposite has happened — Narendra ‘Surrender’ Modi and his ministers have made an agreement that is likely to inflict deep damage on both sectors,” Rahul wrote.
The Congress leader has also claimed that the trade deal will harm India’s farmers. On Friday, he met representatives of farmers’ unions from across the country and discussed a movement against the agreement.
The Narendra Modi government has reacted strongly to Rahul’s claims in Parliament that US President Donald Trump had Prime Minister Modi in a “chokehold” , with BJP MP Nishijkant Dubey moving a substantive motion against the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha that has demanded that Rahul’s Lok Sabha membership be cancelled and he be banned for life from contesting elections.
Amit Shah’s barb
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that the interests of Indian farmers and fishermen have been fully secured in the recent free trade agreements (FTAs) and the US-India trade deal.
Shah slammed Rahul for misleading people with "lies" and trying to create an "illusion".
He alleged that Rahul "has started a new tradition of telling lies daily" and asked him to "carefully" go through the fine-print of the recent deals clinched with the UK and EU, besides the US.
"It’s Rahul Gandhi's policy to lie, lie loudly, repeat it. But people have identified your lie manufacturing factory," Shah said at a well-attended BJP rally in the poll-bound Union Territory of Puducherry.
"Rahul Gandhi wants to mislead the country's fishermen and farmers. He intends to spread illusion by telling lies," Shah charged.
In the agreements signed with the UK and the EU, besides the India-US trade deal, Prime Minister Modi has ensured "100 per cent protection" for farmers, fishermen and livestock breeders, Shah said.
He charged that farmers' interests were "sold off" during the UPA regime headed by the late Manmohan Singh.
"The FTAs and trade deal will not cause any harm to our farmers,” Shah said. “The harm to farmers was done during your Manmohan Singh government. Several global agreements were signed back then in which the interests of farmers were sold off. Here, Narendra Modi ji has ensured the protection of farmers and livestock rearers.”
