Modi signed a ‘trap deal’ on U.S. pressure: Congress

Protesting against the Narendra Modi government for not sharing details of the India-U.S. trade deal, the Congress on Friday (February 6, 2026) brought a poster that read ‘Trap Deal’, to the main entrance of the Parliament complex.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge later attacked the government over the trade deal, saying U.S. President Donald Trump pressured Mr. Modi into signing it because of the Epstein files [documents pertaining to late U.S. financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein].

“The truth is that over the past few days, Narendra Modi has been troubled because matters related to him have come up in the Epstein files. After that, Narendra Modi surrendered before Trump and struck a trade deal. He sacrificed the country’s farmers. Modi is making our people poor and making America’s farmers rich,” Mr. Kharge told reporters while reacting to the Prime Minister’s reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.

On Thursday (February 5), Mr. Modi replied to the Motion of Thanks in the Rajya Sabha, in which he mounted a scathing attack on the Congress. However, he skipped the customary reply to the Motion of Thanks in the Lower House because of repeated disruptions by Opposition members.

Reacting to the Prime Minister’s speech, the Congress chief said Mr. Modi does not have the courage to answer the questions posed to him. The government doesn’t want to run the House in a democratic manner, he said.

In the Lok Sabha, as protests continued over various issues, MPs from the Congress and some other Opposition parties staged a protest at the main entrance to the Parliament House complex over the trade agreement with the U.S., the controversy surrounding former Army chief General M.M. Naravane’s unpublished memoir and the suspension of eight MPs.

As soon as the Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 11 a.m. on Monday, the Opposition MPs gathered near the Makar Dwar of Parliament and raised slogans such as ‘Dictatorship will not be tolerated’, ‘Narendra, surrender’, and ‘Stop murdering democracy’.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the MPs suspended for the remainder of the current Budget session of Parliament, and several other members participated in the protest, holding a large banner that read ‘Trap Deal’.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Mr. Modi by raising the slogan and telling reporters, “jo uchit samjho woh karo [do whatever you deem appropriate]”.

The reference is from Gen. Naravane’s ‘unreleased’ memoir, Four Stars of Destiny, in which he recounted an incident of August 31, 2020, when he called up Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to seek orders, as four Chinese tanks, accompanied by infantry, began approaching Rechin La in eastern Ladakh. The book claimed that Mr. Singh reverted, conveying the Prime Minister’s message – Jo uchit samjho, woh karo.