New Delhi: Former commerce minister Anand Sharma Thursday accused Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of “misinforming Parliament” over agreements reached at the ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali in December 2013, rejecting her allegation that the previous Congress-led UPA government had compromised India’s food security interests.
In a statement, Sharma said it was “unfortunate and shocking” that Sitharaman levelled what he described as an “unfair allegation” that the UPA “sold out” India’s right to food security at the WTO meet.
He termed the charge “false and incorrect”, asserting that the facts on record and official WTO documents contradicted her claim.
Addressing the Lok Sabha Wednesday, Sitharaman, responding to Rahul Gandhi’s charge that the Modi government bowed to US pressure in signing an interim trade deal, alleged it was the UPA which compromised India’s interests in 2013 by signing the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) without first securing protections for India’s public stockholding of food grains.
Statement by Shri Anand Sharma, Former Commerce and Industry Minister, on WTO. pic.twitter.com/OwFEfGxx3h
— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) February 12, 2026
Sharma countered Sitharaman, saying her remarks were “orchestrated for political gains”. Rather than caving in to pressure mounted by developed nations including the US, New Delhi managed to place the issue of public stockholding for food security onto the Bali ministerial agenda, he said.
At the 2013 WTO meet, a key dispute was over India’s food grain procurement and subsidy programmes, which exceeded the WTO’s 10 percent cap on certain farm subsidies. Member nations had then agreed to an interim “peace clause” under which countries would not legally challenge developing nations like India over these breaches while talks continued on a permanent solution for food security programmes.
Sharma said India succeeded in building a broad coalition of developing countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, which in turn compelled developed countries to agree to negotiations for a permanent solution to what he described as “dated and inherently flawed” WTO rules governing agricultural subsidies.
“Bali ministerial had reached ten agreements which included preferential market access for LDC (least developed) countries and TFA. India led coalition of developing countries, had only agreed to the WTO agreements after first securing the right of Public Stockholding of food grains for food security purposes,” said Sharma.
He added that the protection secured went beyond a short-term arrangement and effectively placed India’s MSP-linked public stockholding programmes “beyond legal challenge” at the WTO.
“The then Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in an act of political upmanship had said in Parliament that a Permanent agreement will be concluded before December 2015 as per the assurance given by US President to PM Modi. However, despite a lapse of 12 years from the Bali Ministerial Declaration and 11 years from the General Council decision, a permanent solution to the problem is yet to be arrived at,” Sharma added.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Union Budget 2026-27: What it really says about India’s economy