Barnala (Punjab), Feb. 28 -- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Indo-US interim trade deal, claiming that it will destroy Indian farmers.
Addressing the Kisan Mahachaupal rally here, Gandhi alleged that the deal had been stalled for four months due to disagreements over the opening of the agriculture sector.
"Question arises, the work which PM did not do for four months, why did he do it within 15 minutes?" he said and asked why the trade deal was suddenly done.
Gandhi said that Modi gave a guarantee to US President Donald Trump that every year India will buy US products worth Rs 9 lakh crore.
He said that the deal will "destroy Indian farmers".
During his address, Gandhi claimed he was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha recently after the President's address because he wanted to comment on former Army Chief Manoj Naravane's memoirs.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said he intended to refer to an unpublished book by Gen Naravane (retd), which, he claimed, described a lack of response from the political leadership during Chinese troop movements near the border.
"I asked experts why this deal was stuck. I got a reply that the US wants to open the Indian agriculture sector, and our government does not want to open it," said Gandhi.
Nothing happened on this front for four months, he said.
He said the prime minister called up the US president without consulting the Cabinet, the Agriculture minister and the Defence minister and the External Affairs minister.
Modi told US President Donald Trump that he was ready for the deal, said Gandhi.
Under this deal, India allowed the US to sell soybeans, corn, cotton, fruits and almonds, he said.
"Our farmers are not mechanised. They have small land holdings", he said, adding that in the US, the landholdings are bigger and also mechanised.
"Narendra Modi ji has opened the door of the agriculture sector. Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Odisha farmers of all these states will be ruined," he alleged.
US goods will come, and our farmers will be destroyed, he said.
"Modi did not want to do this. I know it. Because for four months, he was trying to stop it. We have connections in the government, we know the bureaucrats, and we asked them whether they will open the agriculture sector. They said they are not doing it, he said.
"Never ever has any prime minister, be it of the Congress or the BJP could open the agriculture sector, he said.
Then the question arises that the work which Modi did not do for four moths then why did he do it within 15 minutes? he asked.
Gandhi said that If India buys goods worth Rs 9 lakh crore every year, then what will happen to our small and medium-scale sector? It will be finished, he claimed.
He further claimed that PM Modi told the US that India will buy oil from a country that it wants.
"Neither we will but oil from Russia, nor from Iran. If you (US) tell us to buy oil from Venezuela, the US and Saudi Arabi, India's entire energy security has been finished, Gandhi added,.
Senior Congress leaders, including K C Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition in Punjab, Partap Singh Bajwa, former chief ministers Charanjit Singh Channi and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Randhawa and another senior leader from the state Vijay Inder Singla, were present.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.