"Congress Govt Surrendered Before WTO": FM Sitharaman Hits Back At Rahul Over ‘Bharat Mata Sold’

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hit back sharply at the Congress, accusing it of “selling the country” during negotiations at the World Trade Organization in Bali. She said the Congress signed agreements on grain stockholding and trade facilitation without safeguarding India’s interests, a move that could have crippled MSP procurement and the public distribution system after 2017. Sitharaman argued that farmers and the poor would have suffered had corrective steps not been taken. She credited Narendra Modi for securing the peace clause at the WTO, protecting India’s farmers, food security and welfare schemes.