The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice and later for the day as heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches over the India-US trade deal, mention of the 2020 India-China conflict and other issues, disrupted proceedings several times today.
A row had erupted in the Lok Sabha yesterday when Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi sought to quote from an unpublished 'memoir' of former army chief General M.M. Naravane on the 2020 India-China conflict. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and other BJP members strongly opposed Rahul, accusing him of misleading the House. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla disallowed the Congress leader from raising the issue but he did not relent, with several opposition leaders rallying behind him.
Later, while speaking to mediapersons at the Parliament House complex, Rahul said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave in to pressure from the US to approve a new trade agreement and added that the deal has "sold out" the hard work of India's farmers. "Modi ji is rattled. The (US-India) trade deal, which was stalled for the past few months, was signed by Narendra Modi last night. There is extreme pressure on him. Narendra Modi ji's image can get damaged.
“The main thing is that our PM is compromised. The public needs to think about this. For the first time, the LoP was not allowed to speak on the President's speech. Narendra Modi ji has sold your hard work in this trade deal because he is compromised. He has sold the country. Narendra Modi ji is scared because those who shaped his image are now breaking this image. There is a case on (Gautam) Adani ji in the US, it is actually a case on Modi ji. The Epstein Files contain even more that the US has not yet released. There is pressure due to that as well. These are the two pressure points. The country should understand this," Rahul said.
