Kannur (Kerala), Feb 26 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that US President Donald Trump had used the ‘Epstein files’ to threaten Prime Minister Narendra Modi into signing a trade deal that would “sacrifice” Indian farmers.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha was speaking at a farmers’ convention in Peravoor, Kannur district.
He said the simple fact that farmers are the foundation of India is not understood by the government.
He said lengthy lectures were delivered about IT and other sectors, but nothing could be built without strengthening the foundation.
“If you do not respect the foundation, nothing can be built. The person who builds the foundation does not have respect or protection. We eat food every day but do not remember who puts it on our table,” he said.
Gandhi alleged that the Prime Minister had signed a deal with the US President that was “like digging the foundation”.
“Indian farmers are small farmers with low levels of mechanisation. American farmers have massive farms and high levels of mechanisation. It is a criminal act to allow access to Indian agriculture markets for American farmers,” he said.
He claimed that no previous prime minister would have allowed American farmers to sell products such as soybeans, corn and fruits in India.
“It is going to destroy the foundation that we have built carefully. The whole Green and White Revolutions happened because we believed that we needed a foundation built in agriculture,” he said.
Gandhi said the India-US deal had been stalled for four months due to disagreements over agriculture.
“The Indian government did not want to open agriculture to American companies. I checked with government officials multiple times. Nothing was moving, and the US President was threatening the Prime Minister,” he alleged.
He further claimed that he was not allowed to speak in Parliament after the President’s address because he intended to raise two issues that had trapped the Prime Minister of India.
“The first was about 3.5 million Epstein files that have not yet been released. Please understand they are held secret by the US government. These files have information about the Prime Minister of India,” he alleged.
Gandhi said the information released about Union Minister Hardeep Puri and Anil Ambani is targeted at the Prime Minister of India.
“The second weapon held to the head of the Prime Minister of India is the Adani case in America. Adani is not a normal company. Adani is the financial infrastructure of the BJP and the Prime Minister of India,” he claimed.
Gandhi said that the US has registered a case against Adani, and he cannot leave the country today.
“The threat to the Prime Minister is very clear. If you do not do what we want, we will release to everybody, your and the BJP’s entire financial architecture,” the Leader of Opposition said.
He said that these are the two reasons why the Prime Minister wants to destroy the foundation of India.
“Indian farmers are being sacrificed so that the Prime Minister can protect himself and the financial foundation of the BJP,” Gandhi alleged.
He said the Congress would not allow farmers of India and Kerala to be sacrificed.
Referring to Kerala, Gandhi said a manifesto was being prepared to incorporate public issues, and that any future UDF government should remember that its foundation lay with farmers and labourers.
“Instead of Kerala’s farmers coming to the government with problems, the government should go to farmers as a service provider. Farmers need support prices, cold chains and storage facilities. They need protection in difficult times,” he said.
Gandhi, a former MP from Wayanad, said he had witnessed the tragedy of man-animal conflict in the region and described it as a complex issue that could be resolved.
“The next government is going to look into this problem with sensitivity and with a technological mindset. We are going to assemble the best people to develop a solution for the problem. We will try our best to reduce this problem,” he said.
Gandhi heard the concerns of various farmers and people who suffered from wild animal attacks during the convention.
Laisamma Alias, wife of ward-winning farmer Ambattu Alias, who died by suicide allegedly due to debt a few weeks ago, submitted a petition to Gandhi.
He also met Ambarish of Peravoor, a person with Down syndrome who farms vegetables.
KPCC president Sunny Joseph, KC Venugopal MP, K Sudakaran MP, AICC leader Deepa Dasmunsi, Shafi Parambil MP and Sajeev Joseph MLA also attended the convention. PTI TBA TBA ROH
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
