Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday targeted the Centre and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the India-US trade agreement and the reported tax concessions extended to foreign cloud service providers, claiming that the arrangement is detrimental to India’s economic and strategic interests.
Participating in the debate on the Union Budget, Gandhi criticised the government’s policies on data and taxation while taking a swipe at the Finance Minister. "The Finance Minister is smiling, she likes to smile, she likes to smile a lot. Twenty-year free tax holiday to the big tax companies; this is what have you done with our data?" Gandhi questioned.
He further raised concerns over tariff changes under the trade arrangement and alleged that the deal disproportionately benefits the United States. "What have you done with tariffs. At the beginning, 3 per cent was the average, which has now gone up to 18 per cent -- a 6x increase.
The US imports will go up from $46 billion to $146 billion. This is absurd, and they (the US) have no commitment to us, we have a commitment to them... we are standing like fools... Our tariff has gone up 3 per cent to 18 per cent, and theirs has come down from 16 per cent to 0," he said.
Gandhi stated that political differences aside, lawmakers across parties would want to safeguard national interests. "I believe that people across the aisle here want to protect our country. I also believe that the Prime Minister understands that India's biggest asset is its people and, as a result, its data.
I do not believe for one second that the Prime Minister does not understand it," he said.The Congress leader also cited comparative tariff benefits allegedly extended by the US to Bangladesh, arguing that such measures would damage India’s textile sector.
"The US has reduced the tariff on Bangladesh to 0, while India's tariff is 18 per cent. What do you expect our textile people to do? They are dead, finished! The entire textile industry is gone. Because their competitor is Bangladesh, if Bangladesh imports US cotton, they have 0 per cent duty.
Textile Industry (India's) is gone," he said. Gandhi further claimed that the agreement weakens India’s energy independence and gives the United States significant leverage over India’s oil procurement decisions. "The US will now decide where we will buy our oil from and not our Prime Minister.
They will monitor us. And, if India buys oil from a country that the US does not approve of, then they will punish us with tariffs," he said. He also accused the government of undermining farmers’ interests and described the situation in strong terms. Gandhi alleged that the Centre has "opened a door to crush our poor farmers" and called the development "disgraceful".
"No Prime Minister has ever done this, and no Prime Minister after you will ever do it," he said. Continuing his criticism, Gandhi said, "You've weaponised energy... You don't have any solutions to overcome this." In a sharp escalation of his attack, the Leader of the Opposition accused the government of compromising national interests and described the interim trade agreement as heavily skewed.
"I am saying that you have sold India. Are you not ashamed of selling India? Do you have no shame in selling India? You have sold our mother, Bharat Mata," he said. He further alleged that the Prime Minister was acting under pressure in agreeing to the arrangement.