Mumbai, Feb 5 (IANS) The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) on Thursday launched an attack on the central government over the India-US trade agreement, calling it not merely a deal but a “declaration of war” against India’s farmers and labourers.

In a strongly worded editorial in its mouthpiece, Saamana, the Thackeray faction said the agreement threatens the livelihood of the country’s food providers and questioned whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi is acting in India’s interest or functioning as a “sales agent” for the United States.

It urged farmers and workers across the country to unite and demand accountability from the Centre.

The editorial said the deal has been signed at a time of domestic economic vulnerability, pointing out that the Indian rupee touched a record low of 92 against the US dollar in late January. Despite this, the government, it said, appeared “intoxicated” by the agreement, portraying former US President Donald Trump as a “new deity” while “mortgaging the nation’s sovereignty”.

It asserted that Prime Minister Modi “should not remain in office for even a moment after sacrificing the interests of Indian farmers and national sovereignty”.

Quoting Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, the editorial claimed that the Prime Minister signed the agreement under “fear” and “immense pressure” from Trump.

According to Gandhi, the deal had remained stalled for nearly four months and was abruptly signed for “mysterious reasons”.

While the BJP has projected the agreement as a “magnificent announcement” benefiting 1.4 billion Indians, Saamana argued that the fine print tells a grim story for the domestic economy.

It claimed that India would reportedly stop purchasing oil from Russia and shift entirely to US oil imports worth 500 billion dollars. It further alleged that India would eliminate tariffs on US agricultural products, coal and technology.

The editorial noted that although US tariffs on Indian goods are expected to fall from 50 per cent to 18 per cent, India’s effective tariff burden would rise sharply from the earlier 3.31 per cent to 18 per cent.

Warning of severe consequences for agriculture, the Thackeray camp said the proposed “zero tariff” regime would allow subsidised and cheaper American produce to flood Indian markets. Items such as cotton, milk and dairy products, pulses, soybean, maize, almonds, walnuts, fruits and vegetables would be sold without duty, making them cheaper than local produce and rendering Indian farmers and agricultural labourers uncompetitive.

In a country where farmers continue to die by suicide due to mounting debt, the editorial said, the government is “rolling out the red carpet for foreign products”, reiterating that the Modi government has compromised the interests of Indian farmers and the nation’s sovereignty in favour of the United States.

–IANS

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