The Congress claimed on Saturday that the Indo-US trade pact is “not a deal but a surrender” of the country’s self-esteem and interests, and that it is a betrayal of India and its people.Addressing a press conference here, Congress’s media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also claimed that India will soon become a dumping ground for American products and it will hurt the interests of the farmers and small and medium industries here.
“This deal is a betrayal to all that India stands for and all that India stood for over the last 75 years. This is not a deal which is in our interest. This is a total surrender by none other than Narender,” Khera said, taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress leader added that he has proved that “Narender is surrender”.
“India has been made into a dumping ground by this deal. I do not want to call it a deal, as a deal is amongst equals and you sit across the table and negotiate. A deal cannot be with a gun held on your head…. It is blackmail, it is a surrender,” he said.
Khera also alleged that US is dubbing India as a “thief” as it will keep a close watch on New Delhi buying oil from Russia and showed an order from the United States government.
The opposition party’s attack came soon after Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal announced that India has not given any duty concessions on any dairy product and claimed that several Indian goods, including agricultural products, will attract zero reciprocal tariff in the US.
India and the US announced on Saturday that they have reached a framework for an interim trade agreement, under which both sides will reduce import duties on a number of goods to boost the two-way trade.
Khera said this is not a pact with the US, but a “compromise with our self-esteem and the interests of our farmers and MSMEs and the middle-class”.