Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi accused the govt Wednesday of “completely surrendering” India’s core data, food and energy interests in the trade deal, in a sharp attack in Lok Sabha on PM Modi who, he alleged, had caved in to pressure due to the leverage that country has over him.Participating in the discussion on the Budget, Gandhi began his speech with mention of the concept of grip and chokehold players are taught in martial arts to floor rivals and then used the metaphor to target Modi in the US’s handling of him. Gandhi’s condemnation of the interim pact as a sellout of national interest was the theme of his speech.‘Farmers left to mercy of mechanised US farms’Rahul said the data of 140 crore Indians is the country’s most valuable asset, while the nation needs to secure its energy and food interests in these turbulent times.The LoP’s controversial references to a convicted child sex offender in the US, two Indian businessmen and Bharat Mata as he sought to corner govt was met with resistance from treasury benches and were expunged from records.He alleged that minister Hardeep Puri had introduced an Indian businessman to the child sex offender, and the files released by the US govt mention their names. The Chair asked him not to level the allegations.Rahul Gandhi’s condemnation of the interim trade pact as a sellout of national interest was the theme of his speech, hitting the BJP-led NDA govt on a plank which it has practically owned since coming to power in 2014.He alleged, “The most valuable asset (data) of India has been handed over. Our farmers have been left to the mercy of mechanised American farms. Our textiles have been wiped out. Our energy security has been handed over. We cannot buy oil from who we want to buy it from. This is a wholesale surrender.”Unlike Modi’s and NSA Doval’s assertion that it is not an era of war, Rahul said the world is in fact “moving into an era of war and instability” amid intensifying geo-political conflicts. Dollar’s supremacy is being challenged and world is moving away from the era of one superpower, he said.While the budget recognises these challenges, including the weaponisation of energy and finance, it offers no future pathways, he said, before turning to the agreement to hit out at govt.He alleged the deal has compromised security in all three critical things needed to run a modern country: data, food supply and energy.
