Parliament session: 'Talk to us as an equal, not your servants': Rahul Gandhi's blunt message for Donald Trump

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, gave a straightforward message to US President Donald Trump on Wednesday regarding the India-US trade deal negotiations. Gandhi said that had the INDIA bloc been in power instead of the BJP-led NDA, they would have asked Trump to negotiate the trade deal as an equal instead of treating India as “servants”. 

His comments in the Parliament session came after India and the US reached an interim trade agreement last week. Trump slashed tariffs on Indian imports from 50 per cent to 18 per cent. He, however, mentioned that New Delhi stopped buying Russian oil, a claim not confirmed by the Indian side. 

Labelling the deal as a “complete surrender”, he claimed that the government has lowered tariffs, handed over Indian data, granted a 20-year tax holiday to foreign companies, exposed farmers to competition from the US, compromised energy security, and weakened the textiles industry. 

The Leader of the Opposition said that the most important thing was Indian data. 

“If the INDIA alliance were negotiating with President Trump, the first thing we would say is, if you want to protect your dollar, we are your friends… the biggest asset that can protect your dollar is with the Indian people. We would say if you want access to this data, then please understand that you are going to talk to us as an equal. You’re not going to talk to us as if we are your servants,” Rahul said.

Referring to Trump’s claim that India agreed to stop its Russian oil purchases under the new trade deal, he said that New Delhi should have protected India’s energy security. 

He also raised the issue of farmers. “We would say, President Trump, we understand that you have a voter base and you need to protect your farmers. But we will also protect our farmers… We will not be made equal to Pakistan.” 

Furthermore, he dubbed the deal as one-sided, saying, “You have sold India. Are you not ashamed of selling India? You have sold our mother, Bharat Mata.” 

He also alleged that the Indian textile industry is “finished”.