PM under pressure sold, out farmers hard work: Rahul
Criticising the India-US trade deal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi buckled under US pressure to finalise it and “sold out” the hard work of the Indian farmers through the agreement.
Addressing reporters in the Parliament House complex after he was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha as he insisted on quoting from an article that cited former Army chief MM Naravane’s unpublished “memoir”, Rahul Gandhi also said that it is for the first time in history that the Leader of Opposition has not been allowed to speak on the president’s address.
In a social media post, Rahul Gandhi said, “PM Modi is compromised. PM is too afraid to let me speak in Parliament about Naravane, Epstein Files and how he has surrendered on Tariffs.”
Hitting back at the Congress and Gandhi, BJP MP Anurag Thakur asked whether the Congress and others in the opposition are with India’s interest.
He also slammed Rahul Gandhi over his allegation that Prime Minister Modi buckled under US pressure to finalise the trade deal.
Speaking to reporters, Rahul Gandhi said the issue is not Naravane’s statement, “that is a side show”, but the main thing is that “our prime minister has been compromised”. “I want to say three things. They are not allowing me to speak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is rattled. And the trade deal that had been stuck for the last four months, for some reason which Prime Minister Modi and I know, was sealed last evening,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi also claimed that Modi is under “enormous pressure”, and his “image balloon” that had been inflated with thousands of crores could burst.
“The issue is not Naravane’s statement, which is a side show, he (Modi) and I both know it. The main thing is that our prime minister has been compromised. Who has done it and how it has been done, the people of India have to think about it,” Gandhi said.
The Leader of Opposition also said the farmers of India must understand that there has been a “sell-out” of their hard work, as well as their blood and sweat, by Prime Minister Modi through this deal.
“He has sold it because he is compromised. He has not just sold you off, but the whole country. That is why they are not allowing me to speak,” Gandhi said, claiming that the prime minister is “scared”.
Asked what kind of pressure he was referring to, Rahul Gandhi said there is a case against industrialist Gautam Adani in the US and a lot more is to come in the Epstein files matter.
“There is a case on Adani in the US. That is not targeting Adani but Modi’s financial structure. The Epstein files have more matter,” Gandhi said.
The Epstein files refer to thousands of pages of documents related to two criminal investigations into sex trafficking by financier Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, including travel logs, recordings, and emails, which have been a topic of conversation since Epstein died in custody in 2019.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the US has stated that American farmers’ products will now be sold in the Indian market, bringing money to rural America.
“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,” she said.
