File FIR or privilege motion, I will stand with farmers: Rahul slams govt on US trade deal
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday asserted that the government can file cases or a privilege motion against him but he will stand strongly with farmers as he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being "anti-farmer" and "selling" the country through the India-US interim trade deal.
Gandhi also alleged that there is a "chokehold" on Modi and his "reins" are in the hands of US President Donald Trump.
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha shared a video statement on X in which he made a scathing attack on the government over the India-US interim trade deal.
In a post in Hindi on X along with the video, Gandhi said, "FIR is filed, a case is registered, or a privilege motion is brought -- I will fight for the farmers."
"Any trade deal that takes away the farmers' livelihood or weakens the country's food security is anti-farmer. We will not let the anti-farmer Modi government compromise on the interests of the food providers," he said.
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In his video, Gandhi said farmers are the foundation of the country.
"The Congress fought for food security and Narendra Modi has betrayed our food security and our farmers. By striking a deal with the US, he has sold cotton, soya, apple and fruit farmers. Since years, foreigners have been trying to capture our agriculture market," Gandhi said, adding that Modi has opened the door for them.
"This is the truth, he (Modi) also knows this. He has done this as there is a chokehold on his neck. Narendra Modi's reins are in the hands of Donald Trump," he alleged.
"Maize, cotton, soya bean and fruit farmers is only the beginning. Narendra Modi will open the doors to the entire agriculture market for his friends like Adani, Ambani and for foreign powers. The whole country and the farmers know that Narendra Modi is anti-farmer," he claimed.
Gandhi said Modi earlier had brought the "black farm laws" and now he has opened the doors of the agriculture market for foreign powers.
"American farmers have farm lands that are in acres, it is all mechanised and the government gives them subsidy. On the other hand the farms of our farmers are small, they don't get MSP and there is no mechanisation," the former Congress chief said in the video.
"Narendra Modi has sold the country and its farmers. You put cases against me, abuse me. do whatever you want, file a privilege motion, it does not matter to me, I have spoken the truth in Parliament, you may not like it that is a different matter, but the country knows the truth. Do whatever you want, I am standing with the farmers. I will not budge even an inch," Gandhi asserted.
"Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge ji, me, and the whole Congress are standing with the farmers, we will not let this injustice happen," he said.
Posting the video on his WhatsApp channel, Gandhi alleged that "anti-farmer" Narendra Modi has sold the country's food providers, their blood and sweat, to Trump.
"Why is he always ready to sacrifice farmers? First, he introduced black laws to benefit his billionaire friends - now, to free himself from the American stranglehold on his own, he has opened the doors of Indian agriculture to Trump's America," he said.
"Tomorrow, these doors will be widened even further -- for those same billionaire friends, for other foreign powers," he alleged.
This new India-US trade deal calls for removing "non-tariff barriers" on American agricultural products, he pointed out.
"Opening the Indian market to foreign agricultural products is a direct attack on India's food security and the livelihoods of farmers," he asserted.
Farmers of cotton, soybeans, sorghum, fruits, and dried fruits are already at risk, he said.
"99.5% of India's farmers are small and poor - there is neither adequate support nor subsidies; the farmer bears the entire risk. In the United States, farming is done on a large scale, using machines, and the government provides heavy subsidies," he said.
If Indian farmers are forced to compete with cheap, subsidized American agriculture, they will not be able to survive, Gandhi argued.
"This means that American farmers will benefit, while Indian farmers will suffer ruin. In this agreement, farmers were not consulted. Parliament was not given complete information. The country was not told what had actually been decided," he said.
"For years, it was said, 'We will double farmers' income.' Not only did income not double, but now the farmers' very future has been put at stake. I and the Congress Party stand with the nation's food providers with all our strength," he said.
"We will fight from the streets to Parliament, in every village, on every platform-protecting India's farmers and the nation's food security," Gandhi said.
In a no-holds-barred attack on the Modi government, Gandhi, while participating in the debate on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, claimed that Indian interests had been "surrendered" under the trade deal to protect the BJP's financial architecture.
Slamming the Indo-US deal, Gandhi drew an analogy of how in martial arts after securing a grip, the next step is a chokehold, and then the opponent taps to give up.
Gandhi had underlined the need to protect the country's people, data, food supply and energy system.
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Jharkhand HC directs Centre, state to formulate SOP for accessing Aadhaar card details by police
Ranchi (PTI): The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday directed the central and state governments to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) with regard to tracing Aadhaar card details of victims.
A bench comprising Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Arun Kumar Rai was hearing a petition filed by a woman, Chandramuni Urain, whose minor daughter has been missing since 2019 from Gumla.
The court was informed that the police had applied for tracing the Aadhaar card details of the minor victim, and the application has been pending for quite some time.
The court observed that this is a long process and will hamper the investigation of cases.
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Hence, a mechanism needs to be developed where tracing of the Aadhaar card required by the police becomes faster, the high court observed.
In cases of children, being victims of human trafficking, not all matters are reported to the police, and an SOP will be required for immediate intervention by the police to trace the whereabouts of victims, the bench said.
The court on Wednesday ordered the petitioner to make the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) director a party in the case.
The court was also informed that the police had registered an FIR on February 11 for the alleged assault made on Chandramuni Urain by villagers earlier this month under suspicion of practising witchcraft.
On directions of the High Court, a team of Jharkhand Legal Services Authority also presented a report on action taken after Chandramuni was assaulted in the village.
The case will again be heard on February 25.
The high court on Wednesday had slammed the Gumla superintendent of police for not taking action against those who assaulted Urain, branding her a witch.
Urain had moved the court to trace her missing daughter. She was six years old when she disappeared in 2019.
During the hearing, she had submitted that she was also assaulted by her co-villagers who branded her as a witch in the same year, but the police did not take action.
The police, on the other hand, said that the woman was not willing to lodge a formal complaint about the assault.
Urain had lodged a complaint in 2019 after her daughter went missing from the village.
However, since no significant action was taken by the police to recover her daughter, Urain filed a petition for habeas corpus before the high court on September 4, 2025, suspecting that her daughter is a victim of human trafficking.
