New Delhi: Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge Wednesday criticised the India-US trade deal, and warned the government of an agitation akin to the protest against the three farm laws back in 2020-21.
Kharge pointed out that India is an agricultural country, and the largest part of the population is dependent on farming. “I would like to remind the Prime Minister that after the year-long massive protest by the farmers, you had to bulldoze the three black farm laws…Now you’re making the same mistake again,” he said.
Kharge then warned, “After all of this, the farmers’ agitation will rise again, and when they take to the streets again, you will have to take all of this back, just like you had to do earlier.”
LIVE: Reply to the motion of thanks on the President’s address.
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) February 4, 2026
Kharge complained that Members of Parliament got to know about the India-US trade deal through US President Donald Trump and not the Indian government. “This is an insult to the Parliament,” he said, adding that America often insults India on the global stage.
The Congress president alleged that the deal will “destroy” the Indian farmer.
He referred to a statement released by the US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who said that the “new US-India deal will export more American farm products to India’s massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America”.
“Whatever is imported, there is zero tariff on it, and what we send to them, there will be 18% (tariff) on it. Are you working in favour of farmers or against them?” Kharge asked.
Trump had announced the conclusion of negotiations on the India-US trade deal on Monday. Soon after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed that Indian exports will be tariffed at “18 percent” after the two leaders spoke on call.
In his speech in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal told Parliament that the trade deal would protect the interests of key sectors such as agriculture and dairy. He added that the deal would be beneficial for Indian exporters because the tariffs are lower than those imposed on competing countries.
‘Manusmriti above the Constitution’
In his speech, Kharge spoke about social justice, and alleged that the Modi government had weakened the social fabric of the country in the past 11 years.
“Post independence, we had two major goals—a social structure based on equal justice and making the country a parliamentary democracy. In the last 11 years, you have bulldozed both. In your mind, Manusmriti is above the Constitution,” he asserted.
Speaking during a discussion on motion of thanks on the President’s address in the ongoing Budget Session, Kharge said that while the President spoke of woman empowerment, women have, in fact, only become a “vote bank” for the BJP.
“So far, BJP has not made any woman its president. In its 100 years, RSS has not handed over its leadership to any woman,” he said.
Kharge also taunted the BJP over Manipur. He said that while Vasco Da Gama took 11 months to travel to India from Portugal via Africa, it took Prime Minister Narendra Modi two years to go to Manipur despite the state witnessing human tragedy.
Speaking about “selective targeting” in the country, Kharge said: “In states like Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Kerala, even churches were attacked…When elections approach in Kerala, Modiji goes to a church, but stays silent on the attacks on them.”
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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