‘Anti-farmer’ pact: Congress to launch nationwide protest against India-US trade deal

The Congress is gearing up to launch a nation-wide agitation against the Narendra Modi government over the India-US interim trade deal. As it compares the deal with East India Company, the grand old party says the pact would be exploitative for the nation, and called it ‘anti farmer’.

The party said it would bring in farmer organisations across the country on one platform to launch the countrywide agitation over the deal. Sources within the party said they are planning to call the farmers to the national capital to protest during the ongoing Parliament session when it reconvenes on March 9.

The principal Opposition party has been backing the voice of farmers who are apprehensive that their crops, including fruits, dry fruits, corn, soybean and cotton will find no market when the US crops flood the Indian markets following the deal.

Double whammy

Farmers across the country are also worried that they cannot compete with US producers, considering that the latter have better access to technology and substantial government backing.

Also read: Details of India-US interim trade deal: Which sectors benefit, what’s protected

Earlier, the farmers said the high import duty would come to their rescue, as the imported crops would land in India at higher costs, giving them leverage over price. They feel Indian households are cost-sensitive, and the latest deal has weakened their leverage. With American crops entering India at a cheaper rate, they believe they will face a “double whammy” on price and quality.

The decision was taken after the party held a meeting with farmer organisations affiliated with the Congress at Parliament House, chaired by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. The meeting was attended by farmer unions of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.

Farmers protest

Senior Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira had proposed to gather the farmer organisations in the LoP’s office. Surprisingly, Khaira, usually vocal about farmer issues, maintained silence on the US deal, while both party president Mallikarjun Kharge and LoP Rahul Gandhi raised it in Parliament. However, insiders said Khaira was busy reaching out to farmer organisations for the meeting with the LoP.

Also read: US trade deal: 'India has accepted opposite of what it fought for at WTO'

“We gathered some anti-BJP farmer organisations for this meeting. I had submitted a proposal to my leader Rahul Gandhi that we should launch a major agitation against this deal which is anti-farmer,” Chairman of the All India Kisan Congress, Khaira, told The Federal.

The party now faces the task of gathering farmers organisations across ideologies against this deal. “I will meet the heads of various organisations across the country and we hope to achieve a breakthrough within at least one-two months,” said Khaira.

‘Like the East India Company’

Sources who attended the meeting told The Federal that Rahul told the delegation during the meeting that it is surprising why the Modi government has signed this deal, considering it has “no benefit” for the country’s farmers; instead it is “exploitive” for the farming community. “Rahulji was unhappy that the deal would open the door to the US on the lines of East India Company,” said the source.

Also read: India fully protects sensitive wheat, rice, poultry under trade pact with US: Piyush Goyal

There were discussions in the meeting on the concerns that the paddy and wheat discarded by the US due to a lack of buyers will now be exported to India. “It will be cheap and of spurious quality. They would sell their cheap crops to us and then sell us medicines. They will make profits with both hands. It is what the East India Company did to us. Rahulji was very unhappy over it. We discussed it all,” informed a source who was part of the meeting.

According to Khaira, the party’s ultimate plan is to build a public opinion against the deal, and he said he would bring all farmer organisations in the country together to address the issue. “I will try to reach out to every farmer leader in the country. We will get along with all like-minded people and ultimately launch a broader agitation,” said Khaira.

Sources also informed The Federal that the party will also try to bring the farmer organisations affiliated with the Left.