New Delhi, Feb 12: Opposition MPs on Thursday staged a protest in the Parliament House complex against the India-US interim trade deal, accusing the government of “surrendering” Indian interests.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretaries K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh, DMK’s TR Baalu, SP’s Dharmendra Yadav, Jaya Bachchan, CPI-ML’s Sudama Prasad, and others took part in the demonstration near the Makar Dwar of Parliament. MPs carried a huge banner reading “trap deal” and “Narender Surrender” posters, raising slogans such as “US deal hai atyachari” and “desh ko bechna bandh karo.”
Later, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Congress MPs, including recently suspended members, joined the protest on the steps of Makar Dwar.
Earlier, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said the government ignored workers’ and farmers’ voices while negotiating the deal, asking whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi would listen now or if a “grip” on him was too strong. Gandhi had earlier described the India-US trade agreement as a “wholesale surrender,” claiming India’s energy security and farmers’ interests were compromised to protect the BJP’s financial interests.
During the Budget debate on Wednesday, Gandhi likened the deal to martial arts, where a firm grip is followed by a chokehold, forcing surrender. He emphasized protecting the country’s people, data, food supply, and energy systems, and said an INDIA bloc government would have demanded equal treatment from the US.
