Amid war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the recently concludedIndia-US interim trade dealLeader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met farm union leaders from across the country in the Parliament House complex and discussed with them the need for a countrywide movement to oppose the pact. Criticising the Congress MP's move, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the meeting was aimed at confusing hardworking annadatas and provoking them.
Rahul Gandhi met farm union leaders from across the country in the Parliament House complex on Friday. The farm leaders who met Gandhi included All India Kisan Congress chief Sukhpal S Khaira, Ashok Balhara of the Bharatiya Kisan Mazdor Union-Haryana, Baldev S Zira of the BKU-Krantikari, R NandKumar of the Progressive Farmers Front, Amarjit S Mohri of the BKU-Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Guramneet S Mangat of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha-India and Hameed Malik of the Jammu and Kashmir Zamidara Forum.
During the meeting, the farm union leaders expressed their opposition to the India-US trade deal and conveyed their deep concern for the livelihoods of the corn, soybean, cotton, fruits and nuts growers, the Congress said.
Gandhi told the farmers that the trade deal has opened the door for agricultural imports and that many other crops would soon follow, according to the opposition party.
The farm leaders and the former Congress chief discussed the need for a large-scale national movement to oppose the deal and safeguard the livelihoods of farmers and farm labourers, it added.
Hitting back at the Congress party, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said that the motive of the Congress is to provoke the farmers against the central government.
Calling Gandhi's claims "fake" and "fabricated", Goyal said, "Mr Rahul Gandhi has once again rolled out a stage-managed, most artificial and fake narrative. This time, he is shooting from the shoulders of a few Congress party activists, who are pretending to be farmer leaders - in a completely artificial, and baseless conversation."
"Let me now do a reality check on Rahul ji's fakery and expose him and his friends for misguiding our innocent, hardworking annadatas, whose interests have been fully protected by the Modi government in the India-US trade deal," he said.
Gandhi had earlier accused the government of failing to protect India's interests while signing an interim trade agreement with the United States, a charge that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman countered, saying it was the Congress government that sold the country at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
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