Rahul Gandhi claims PM Modi 'under pressure' over India-US trade deal

New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS) Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on Tuesday, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being "compromised" and "under pressure", claiming that this is the reason behind the signing of the India-US trade agreement. 

India and the United States finalised a trade deal on Monday following a telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump.

As part of the agreement, US tariffs on Indian goods were reduced to 18 per cent, while India agreed to ease certain trade barriers on American products.

Speaking to reporters within the Parliament premises, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Prime Minister signed the agreement under pressure.

"Modiji is scared. Everyone saw that the trade deal was on hold for four months; nothing has changed. For some reason, what we don't know, Narendra Modi knows that Narendra Modi signed the trade deal yesterday evening. There is pressure on Narendra Modi ji, and the balloon of image that he has created with thousands of crores can burst soon," he said.

His remarks came amid his repeated attempts to raise the Ladakh standoff issue in the Lok Sabha for the second consecutive day.

Gandhi continued to refer to a magazine article discussing the 2020 India-China military confrontation, which he claimed was mentioned in an "unpublished book" of former Army Chief General M.M. Naravane (Retd.). However, the Chair issued a ruling against quoting newspaper or magazine reports and urged the LoP to cite only "authentic" sources.

"The issue is not Naravane's statement, but a sideshow. He and I know this. The main thing is that the Prime Minister is compromised. Who and how someone did it should be understood by the public. However, for the first time, a LoP was not allowed to speak in the Presidential address," Gandhi alleged.

Commenting further on the trade agreement, Gandhi asserted that citizens must realise the implications of the pact.

"Indians should understand that Narendra Modi has sold your hard work, your sweat and your blood. And he sold us because he is compromised. He did not sell just you, but the entire nation, and that is why I was not allowed to speak. Narendra Modiji is scared," he said.

"Narendra Modi is under pressure... The country needs to understand that the Prime Minister is compromised," he added.

The trade agreement has drawn criticism from opposition parties, which have described the pact as disproportionately beneficial to the US and not in India's interest.

Earlier, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Modi through his official X account, accusing him of yielding to pressure from US President Donald Trump in a series of policy decisions linked to India-US relations.

In his post on X, Ramesh pointed to what he described as Trump's growing influence over India's strategic and economic decisions.

He referred to the announcement of the proposed India-US trade deal, which reportedly involves a reduction in tariffs to 18 per cent and a move by India to "halt" oil purchases from Russia, suggesting that the developments reflect Washington's expanding leverage over New Delhi's policy framework.

--IANS

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