'Rahul Gandhi hates India's progress, trying to mislead nation on India-US trade deal': Piyush Goyal

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal

• Goyal: India-US trade deal benefits farmers, MSMEs, and key sectors
• Opposition protests disrupt Parliament; eight MPs suspended over unruly conduct
• Deal cuts tariffs on Indian goods to 18%, enhances advanced tech collaboration.

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Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on Rahul Gandhi over his criticism of the India-US trade agreement, saying it was unfortunate that the Congress leader was attempting to create doubts about a deal that, according to the government, will bring wide-ranging benefits to the country.

Goyal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had negotiated the agreement with a clear focus on national interest and future growth. “Every Indian is thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he signed a very good trade deal with the United States, keeping in mind the public interest for a strong future of India,” he said, adding that the agreement was finalised under Modi’s leadership after months of negotiations between teams from both sides.

Referring to Opposition protests inside Parliament, the minister said he had wanted to present the government’s position in the House but was compelled to speak outside due to disruptions. He alleged that the Opposition “insulted the Chair” and described their conduct as “ugly”.

“TMC, DMK and SP leaders along with Congress do not want our youth to get opportunities. Our industry wants to work, to move ahead in AI, semiconductors and critical minerals. The United States can help us. High-quality, high-performance data centres can come. We can attract lakhs of crores of investment in India,” he said.

Questioning the Congress leader, Goyal asked, “Is Gandhi bothered? Does he hate the development of India and cannot see the bright future of our youth? He has to answer what he wants from this negative thinking.” He added, “I condemn him and all his supporters in these parties that they are spreading pathetic thought. He does not want development, he wants anarchy. Look at his attitude in Parliament.”

Goyal further alleged, “He does not believe our Army, he questions the Army, he wants to ruin our industry’s future.” He said it was time that “people like Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, Udhayanidhi Stalin, leaders of the Communist Party and SP’s Akhilesh Yadav are held accountable for their negative mindset,” adding that “they are against development and against the bright future of India and are making baseless allegations.”

Also read: Piyush Goyal on why he spoke on India-US trade deal outside Parliament: 'Everyone saw what Opposition did'

Goyal said the agreement would benefit farmers, fishermen, women, rural youth, MSMEs, and labour-intensive sectors, and insisted that sensitive areas such as agriculture and dairy had been fully protected. He also underlined the opportunities in sectors such as textiles, gems and jewellery, leather, marine exports, auto components, engineering goods, aircraft parts, and machinery.

Taking aim at Gandhi, the minister said, “It is unfortunate that Rahul Gandhi has a negative mindset and is misleading the nation on the basis of deceit and lies,” and questioned whether the Congress leader was “even concerned about the bright future of our youth” or “hates development of India”.

He said India had secured a better deal than competing economies and thanked Donald Trump for recognising the friendship between the two countries. “Among competitive countries, he gave a good trade deal to India,” Goyal said, adding that the understanding was “not just a trade deal” but a stage that will lead to "India's bright future."

Gandhi, meanwhile, has questioned the circumstances in which details of the agreement became public and has sought to raise other issues, including national security, in the House. According to him, Parliament should be informed about developments in India’s neighbourhood and the country’s stand on them.

Gandhi has been attempting to speak about government's handling on India-China standoff citing former Army chief MM Naravane's unpublished memoir via an excerpt published in The Caravan. The Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla, and Chair Jagadambika Pal, and Dilip Saikia have not allowed Gandhi to speak on the issue saying it was not a published document and goes against the rules of the House. They asked Gandhi to stick to the President's address in his reply to Motion of Thanks in the ongoing Budget session.

The controversy unfolded amid repeated disruptions in the Lok Sabha, leading to the suspension of eight opposition MPs for the remainder of the session after papers were allegedly torn and thrown towards the Chair. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju moved a resolution for their suspension, which was adopted by voice vote.

After their suspension, Congress MP Prashant Padole said, “they tried to suppress his voice, and when we raised our voice against it, they suspended us,” adding that the party was speaking “in the interests of the public”.

Goyal maintained that the trade agreement would “expand and deepen” economic ties with the US, bring down reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent, and open doors for collaboration in advanced technologies such as AI, semiconductors, critical minerals and high-performance data centres.

Prime Minister Modi earlier welcomed the announcement, saying he was “delighted that ‘Made in India’ products will now have a reduced tariff of 18 per cent” and thanked President Trump “on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India”.

The government has asserted that details of the agreement will be shared through a joint statement from both countries, and reiterated that the deal is aimed at accelerating India’s growth story while safeguarding the interests of key domestic sectors.