Is Cong with India's interest or against it: BJP asks after Rahul over India-US trade deal

New Delhi (PTI): Slamming Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi buckled under the US pressure to finalise a trade deal, BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Tuesday asked whether the Congress and others in the opposition are with India's interest or against it.

Speaking to reporters in the Parliament House complex, the former Union minister alleged that many in the opposition were celebrating after the imposition of US tariffs on India.

They had also raised questions even after India signed free trade agreements with the UK and the European Union (EU), he charged.

"The question arises here whether the opposition and the Congress are with India's interest or against it," Thakur said.

"This anti-India mindset is clearly visible in Rahul Gandhi, the Congress and other opposition leaders, as they are not even allowing Parliament to function," the BJP leader added.

Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has buckled under US pressure to finalise a trade deal and has "sold out" the hard work of Indian farmers through the agreement.

Addressing reporters in the Parliament House complex after he was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha as he insisted on quoting from an article that cited former Army chief M M Naravane's unpublished "memoir", Gandhi said it is for the first time in history that the leader of opposition has not been allowed to speak on the president's address.

"We need to understand why a trade deal stuck for about four months was suddenly finalised last evening," Gandhi said, adding that "there was huge pressure on Prime Minister Modi".

Asked what kind of pressure he was referring to, Gandhi alleged there is a case against industrialist Gautam Adani in the US and a lot more is to come in the Epstein files.

He alleged that Prime Minister Modi "has been compromised" and that Indian farmers must understand their hard work "as well as their blood and sweat" has been "sold out" through the India-US trade deal. He also said the entire country had been "sold out".