Rahul Gandhi, while speaking on the Union Budget in the Lower House, highlighted three points as the cornerstone of a strong nation — Artificial Intelligence (AI), food and Energy. He added, in the same breath, that the government has failed to address all these concerns in the Union Budget.
NEW DELHI — The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday stated that India’s people are its biggest strengths and underscored the importance of protecting the nation’s vibrant database for standing along with global peers; however, he added that the Union Budget has nothing substantial to protect them.
Gandhi, while speaking on the Union Budget in the Lower House, highlighted three points as the cornerstone of a strong nation — Artificial Intelligence (AI), food and Energy. He added, in the same breath, that the government has failed to address all these concerns in the Union Budget.
“India’s biggest strength is its 1.4 billion people. Everybody is talking about AI. The petrol for AI is data. If you have AI and you don’t have data, you have nothing,” he said.
He said that it was important that India protects its energy security interests to maintain its global standing in turbulent times, but, sadly, the government has utterly failed in doing so, accusing it of capitulating India’s interests before the US while negotiating the trade deal.
“Today, Energy and finance are being weaponised the world over, but our Budget is completely silent on this,” Rahul remarked.
The LoP further stated that had the INDIA bloc negotiated the trade deal with the US, it would have made sure that India’s interests supersede everything, and there “remained a level-playing field and not any subjugation as done in this deal”.
“If the INDIA alliance was negotiating, we would have said, President Trump, you must treat India in equal measure and respect the Indian people. We would have told him that our energy security is ours and we will stand for it always, and we won’t accept any compromise on our human potential,” he said.
He further said that if Americans want to remain a superpower and if they want to protect their dollar, “we must stand behind our people and protect the sanctity of our data”.
“India must be in condition to negotiate with its ‘human power’. In the 20th century, the population was seen as a disaster, but in the 21st century, it’s a power, but only if due attention is given to it,” Gandhi said.
He further raised concerns over tariff changes under the trade arrangement and alleged that the deal disproportionately benefits the United States.
“What have you done with tariffs. At the beginning, 3 per cent was the average, which has now gone up to 18 per cent — a 6x increase. The US imports will go up from $46 billion to $146 billion. This is absurd, and they (the US) have no commitment to us, we have a commitment to them… we are standing like fools… Our tariff has gone up 3 per cent to 18 per cent, and theirs has come down from 16 per cent to 0,” he said.
Gandhi stated that political differences aside, lawmakers across parties would want to safeguard national interests.
“I believe that people across the aisle here want to protect our country. I also believe that the Prime Minister understands that India’s biggest asset is its people and, as a result, its data. I do not believe for one second that the Prime Minister does not understand it,” he said.
The Congress leader also cited comparative tariff benefits allegedly extended by the US to Bangladesh, arguing that such measures would damage India’s textile sector.
“The US has reduced the tariff on Bangladesh to 0, while India’s tariff is 18 per cent. What do you expect our textile people to do? They are dead, finished! The entire textile industry is gone. Because their competitor is Bangladesh, if Bangladesh imports US cotton, they have 0 per cent duty. Textile Industry (India’s) is gone,” he said — IANS
