Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) alleged in the Lok Sabha that the NDA government had compromised India’s energy security, data, and the future of its farmers by signing the Indo-U.S. interim trade agreement
Mr. Gandhi, who had been prevented from speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address amid a stand-off with the Treasury benches, used the discussion on Union Budget to up the ante. For the first time in history, he said, “our farmers are facing the storm. You have opened the doors to crush our poor farmers. This is disgraceful.”
The government was quick to respond, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju asserting that it would move a privilege motion against Mr. Gandhi for his “useless and false allegations” against the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The LoP accused the government of allowing the U.S. to weaponise India’s finances against itself. “You are handing our data over. How can you even make these statements? Are you not ashamed of yourselves?” he asked.
‘Treat us as an equal’
He claimed that if the Opposition INDIA bloc had been negotiating with U.S. President Donald Trump, it would have insisted that the U.S. treat India as an equal partner.
“The first thing we would say [to Trump] is that the most important asset in this equation is Indian data. If the U.S. wants to protect the dollar, it must recognise that Indian data is the biggest asset. Second thing, we would say to President Trump is that ‘if you want access to it, then you will talk to us as an equal, not talk to us as if we are your servants’,” he said.
“We would have told Trump that India’s energy security is non-negotiable and we are going to protect our energy security,” he said. “The third thing we would have told President Trump is that ‘we understand you have an agricultural voter base, you need to protect farmers, but we will also protect our farmers’,” he added.
“We will not be made equal to Pakistan. If President Trump decided that Pakistan Army chief will have breakfast with him, we will have something to say about it,” he said.
‘Pressure on the PM’
The scene turned acrimonious when Mr. Gandhi sought to mention certain industrialists and BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, who was officiating as the Speaker, said that no names would go on record.
Mr. Rijiju said that the LoP should authenticate everything he spoke about.
“I said I will authenticate,” Mr. Gandhi said, speaking outside the House later. “[U.S.] Department of Justice case files are there in which [Union Minister] Hardeep Puri and [industrialist] Anil Ambani’s names are there. There is a case on Adani… There have been summons. There is direct pressure on the PM. Without pressure, no PM can do it,” he added.
Mr. Rijiju later told the media that BJP members in the Lok Sabha would give a privilege notice against the Congress leader “for misleading the House and also making baseless statements”. The LoP has made useless and false allegations against the government and against Mr. Modi, he added.
In the Lok Sabha, members of the Treasury benches, including the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, repeatedly got up and accused Mr. Gandhi of making “baseless” allegations and asked him to authenticate his claims, to which the LoP responded that he was willing to comply.
‘Farmers facing a storm’
Mr. Gandhi accused the government of compromising India’s energy security. It is now the U.S. which will decide “who we buy oil from”, he said.
“For the first time in Indian history, our farmers are facing a storm. You have opened the door to mechanised American farms spanning thousands of acres, effectively crushing our small farmers. It is disgraceful, and no Prime Minister before you has done this or after you will ever do this,” Mr. Gandhi said.
Tariff impact
He claimed that, through the U.S. deal, the interests of Indian farmers have been compromised, textiles have been wiped out, and energy security has been “handed over” to the US.
Mr. Gandhi claimed that, in the beginning, U.S. tariffs on Indian imports stood at an average of 3%, but this has now gone up to 18%. U.S. imports to India, on the other hand, are set to go up from $46 billion to $146 billion, which is absurd, he said.
“While our tariff has gone up from 3% to 18%, theirs has come down from 16% to zero,” Mr. Gandhi pointed out.
