Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticised the government over the trade and tariff agreement with the United States and accused it of having "sold out Bharat Mata" by agreeing to open the country's price sensitive agriculture and dairy markets to American farm goods.
The government should be "ashamed", Gandhi thundered, echoing criticism by opposition leaders that the India-US trade deal, by allowing US goods to enter, had endangered the livelihoods of crores of farmers, particularly those with small or marginal holdings, and those from allied industries.
At the core of the critique was his claim US tariffs had jumped from the average three per cent pre-2025 – as part of baseline MFN, or most-favoured nation – rates to 18 per cent under this month's deal.
In-between they were as high as 50 per cent after Donald Trump complained of unfair tariffs and annocuned 'reciprocal' levies, and then added a 25 per cent 'penalty' on India for buying Russian oil.
"You have sold India… are you not ashamed of selling India?" Gandhi said today, "For the first time in history our farmers are facing a storm (and) you have opened the door to crush our poor farmers."
"No Prime Minister has ever done this," he said and insisted there is "no logic" in the deal.
"What have you done... in the beginning, three per cent was the average. Now it has now gone to 18 per cent - a 6x increase. US imports will go from US$46 billion to US$146 billion... this is absurd."
"They have no commitment to us... we have a commitment to them," Gandhi said, referring to a provision that says India will buy US$500 billion in US energy and tech products. "We are standing like fools. Our tariff has gone up to 18 per cent... and theirs has come down from 16 per cent to zero."
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju interrupted at this point and demanded Gandhi, who is also the Leader of the Opposition, present facts to back his claims about the deal with the US.
"India's progress makes you unhappy. The Congress weakened the nation till 2014 (and is) now unhappy… " Rijiju said. He also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "the strongest ever".
Rahul Gandhi's renewed criticism of the trade deal came hours after the United States backtracked on a 'factsheet' it had released with details of the agreement.
The revised document removed 'pulses' from a list of US products, including several agricultural and processed food items, for which India had agreed to either lower or reduce tariffs.
RECAP | US Walks Back On Pulses, Agri Sector Claims In India Deal Factsheet
"India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers' grains, red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, certain pulses, soybean oil, wine, and additional products," it had read.
The updated version simply removed the phrase 'certain pulses'.
The politically sensitive agriculture sector accounts for about a fifth of India's GDP.
The country's agricultural space is worth between US$580 billion and US$650 billion, consultancy giants McKinsey said in June, adding it could grow to US$1.4 trillion by 2035.
The changes came a day after Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge criticised the government over the framework of the Interim Trade Agreement with the United States. Kharge claimed the trade pact undermined India's strategic autonomy, farmers, cattle, and the textile sector.
After the deal was announced, the government had assured Indian farmers of protection.
RECAP | "Indian Farmers Fully Protected": Centre's Reassurance On India-US Trade Deal
The farm sector hasn't been opened fully, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said, adding that sectors where India is self-sufficient had been kept outside the deal.
