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Informist, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was under a "chokehold" and had "sold the nation" in the recent trade deal announced with the US, adding that the government should be "ashamed" of it.

 

Speaking in the Lok Sabha during a discussion on the Union Budget, the Leader of the Opposition said that the Budget had "absolutely nothing" on India's energy security, and weaponisation of finance.

 

Slamming the government on the US trade deal, Gandhi said India committed to increase its imports from the US, gave up control over digital trade routes, and allowed free data flow to the US. "At the beginning, 3% was the average tariff Indian exports had to pay to the US. It has now gone up to 18%. Imports from the US are going to rise from $46 billion to $146 billion. This is absurd," he said. 

"I don't believe any Indian prime minister, including Mr Narendra Modi, would sign this deal, unless there was a chokehold. We have buckled on tariff, we have handed out our data, given 20-year tax holiday...there is no logic here, this is total surrender," the Congress leader said. "You have sold India, are you not ashamed? The prime minister has sold India because they are choking him." 

 

Referring to the US-Bangladesh deal on textiles, Gandhi said this will finish India's textile industry because its competition was Bangladesh, which will pay zero tariffs now while Indian textiles will pay 18%. "For the first time in Indian history, our farmers are facing a storm. Maize, soyabean, cotton...you have opened the doors (to these US products) to crush our poor farmers. No prime minister has done this before you, and no prime minister after you is ever going to do," Gandhi said.

 

On energy security, he said the US, and not the Indian prime minister, will now decide who this country can buy oil from.

 

He said if the INDIA bloc government had negotiated a deal with the US, it would have done it on an equal basis. "We would have told them, no matter what we do, we are going to protect our energy security. You (the US) need to protect your farmers, but we also need to protect our farmers," Gandhi said.

 

The Leader of Opposition was interrupted multiple times during his speech by the ruling party members and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. They objected to Gandhi raising the issue of Epstein files in which names of some ministers and a prominent India businessman feature.  End

 

US$1 = INR 90.70

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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