‘Master at telling lies’: Rahul slams PM Modi over India-US trade deal, flags impact on farmers | India News

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday stepped up its attack on the final India-US trade deal, claiming the deal would hurt India’s cotton farmers and textile exporters.In a post on X, Rahul alleged that the government had walked into a “trap” that left millions of families in the “abyss of unemployment”.“18% tariff vs 0% – let me explain what the Prime Minister, a master liar, and his cabinet are spreading misinformation about. And how they are cheating the country’s cotton farmers and textile exporters through the Indo-US trade deal.”Rahul said that after imposing 18% duty on Indian garments in the US market, he raised the issue of special concession to Bangladesh in Parliament. According to him, a minister replied, “If we want to get the same benefits, we have to import cotton from the United States.”The LOP in the Lok Sabha demanded that Bangladesh be given 0% duty on garment exports to the US on the condition that it imports American cotton. He said Bangladesh is signaling that it may reduce or stop importing cotton from India.Questioning the policy, Gandhi said, “Is this really any kind of alternative—or is it a trap designed to corner us into a ‘damned if you don’t’ situation? If we import American cotton, our own farmers will perish. If we don’t, our textile industry will lag behind and perish.”Earlier too, Rahul Gandhi had criticized the Center over the agreement with Washington, alleging that the deal “betrays our food security and farmers” and claimed that PM Modi opened India’s agricultural market because US President Donald Trump “stalked him.”This comment came after the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal Friday rejected Gandhi’s criticism and accused him of misleading farmers.In a video post on X, Goyal said, “Mr Rahul Gandhi has again given a stage-managed, most artificial and bogus narrative. This time, he is shooting from the shoulders of a few Congress party workers, who are pretending to be farmers’ leaders – in a completely artificial and baseless conversation.”Goyal said the government fully protected farmers’ interests in the agreement and he stood by that statement “on record and with full responsibility”.He added that the agreement would benefit farmers, fishermen, youth, MSMEs, startups and artisans and not harm agricultural producers.