Congress MLAs hold demonstration against India-US trade pact at assembly gate

Opposition Congress legislators on Thursday carried out a march and staged a demonstration at the Porch of the Rajasthan assembly here in protest against alleged compromise on the interests of India’s agriculture and dairy sectors, in the India-US trade deal.

The Congress MLAs led by Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tika Ram Jully took out the march from the Vidhayak Nagar to the state assembly donning Tee-shirts with inscription “PM is Compromised”, waving placards and raising slogans against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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At the assembly gate, the protesting leaders held demonstrations for a while before going into the House to attend the day’s proceedings. They alleged under pressure from the US, our government conceded to terms and conditions that are detrimental to the trading interests of domestic producers.

Even in the House, LoP Jully raised the issue and sought a statement from the government on adverse fallout of the trade deal on farmers and cattle rearers. “Under the impact of the trade deal the price of Soybean has fallen by Rs 12,00-13,00 in the past week, the cotton seed price also showed a declining trend, our farming communities were worried,” he said.

“I want a proper reply from the government in the House informing us about the fall out of the deal on our farmers,” he demanded, adding “the government must make a proper statement”.