New Delhi: Congress Minister Rahul Gandhi Saturday accused the government of “cheating the country’s cotton farmers and textile exporters through the India-US interim trade deal” and claimed that the deal “could cause severe damage to both industries”.“18% tariffs vs. 0% tariffs – let me explain how the Prime Minister and his cabinet are sowing confusion on this issue. And how they are cheating India’s cotton farmers and textile exporters with the Indo-US trade deal,” he said on X.“Bangladesh gets zero-tariff benefits for exporting garments to the US – the only condition is that they import US cotton,” he said.“After the 18 per cent tariff on Indian garments was announced, when I raised a question in Parliament about the special benefits given to Bangladesh, the response from Modi government ministers was: ‘If we also want the same benefits, we will have to import cotton from the US’,” Gandhi said.“Why has this fact been hidden from the country until now? What kind of policy is this? Is this really a choice, or is it a trap designed to push us into a ‘good in front, ditch behind’ situation?” he asked.“If we import American cotton, our own farmers will go bankrupt. If we don’t import, our textile industry will fall behind and be destroyed,” Gandhi claimed.He stressed the importance of the textile industry and cotton cultivation, saying “attacking these industries means pushing millions of families into the abyss of unemployment and economic crisis.”He further said, “A far-sighted government with national interests in mind would have negotiated an agreement that protects and ensures the prosperity of cotton farmers and textile exporters. But the opposite is true…”
