Rahul Gandhi meets farm leaders over India-US trade deal
Plans nationwide movement against agreement
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday met representatives of farm unions from across the country at the Parliament House complex to discuss concerns over the proposed India–US interim trade deal and its impact on agricultural livelihoods.
According to the Congress, farmer leaders conveyed strong reservations about the agreement, stating that it could adversely affect cultivators engaged in crops such as corn, soyabean, cotton, fruits and nuts. They expressed apprehension that increased agricultural imports under the deal could undermine domestic producers and farm labourers.
Gandhi told the delegation that the agreement had effectively opened the door to farm imports and warned that more crops could be brought within its ambit in the future. The discussions, the party said, centred on the need for a coordinated nationwide movement to oppose the trade arrangement and protect the interests of farmers and agricultural workers.
Among those present at the meeting were All India Kisan Congress chief Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Ashok Balhara of the Bharatiye Kisan Mazdoor Union, Haryana, Baldev Singh Zira of the BKU Krantikari, R Nandkumar of the Progressive Farmers Front, Amarjit Singh Mohri of the BKU Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Guramneet Singh Mangat of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha-India and Hameed Malik of the J-K Zamidara Forum, among others.
The meeting took place a day after Gandhi said he would continue to support farmers irrespective of legal or parliamentary action taken against him. In a video message posted on X, he said filing an FIR, registering a case, or initiating a privilege motion would not deter him from raising farmers’ concerns.
He maintained that any trade pact that harms farmers’ incomes or weakens the country’s food security framework cannot be accepted, and alleged that the government was compromising the interests of cultivators through the interim trade deal.
The Congress indicated that further consultations with farmer organisations were likely as the debate over the India–US trade arrangement gathers momentum.
Meanwhile, Congress senior leader Jairam Ramesh said that in recent years the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had often blamed paddy stubble burning by farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for the winter pollution crisis in Delhi and other parts of north India.
“Today, in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare stated categorically that paddy stubble burning is responsible for just around 5 per cent of the pollution load. The vilification of farmers for causing pollution must stop,” said Jairam.
