INDIA bloc would've gone to US as equals, not be equated with Pak, says Rahul Gandhi in LS

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that if an INDIA bloc government had negotiated an agreement with the US it would have ensured an arrangement on ldquoequalrdquo terms and would not have allowed India to be treated ldquoequal to Pakistanrdquo asserting that it would have taken every possible step to safeguard Indiarsquos energy security and farmersParticipating in the discussion on the Union Budget Gandhi sought what he described as ldquocreative freedomrdquo during his speech and used analogies from martial arts to explain political strategy and negotiationsThe foundation of martial arts starts with the grip Without the grip nothing happens First comes the grip then the second grip and then it leads to the choke The choke focuses on the neck and secures control At one point you can see it in the opponents eyes and he knows that he has lost the game and then he taps and surrenders Grip choke and tap grip is seen in martial arts but not in politics he saidRahul Gandhi cites economic survey warns of rising global instability and lsquoera of warrsquoReferring to the Economic Survey Gandhi said it highlighted two major global developments shaping the current geopolitical environment I was looking at the economic survey and I found two points there First that you are living in a world of intensifying geopolitical conflict which means that the dominance of the US is being challenged by the Chinese Russians and other forcesSecond that we are living in a world of energy and financial weaponisation The main thing they are saying here is that we are moving from a world of stability to instability The Prime Minister and shockingly the NSA stated that the era of war is over In fact we are moving into an era of war he saidHighlighting ongoing global conflicts Gandhi added You can see war is there in Ukraine war was there in Gaza war is there in the Middle East threat of war is there in Iran We had Operation Sindoor So we are moving into a world of instabilityGandhi flags shift from US dominance stresses data power in AIdriven worldThe Congress leader said he agreed with the Economic Surveyrsquos observation that the dominance of the US dollar is being challenged The LoP said that he agreed to the Economic Surveys point that the US dollar is being challenged and so is the US supremacy We are moving from one superpower to something that we cannot predict maybe two superpowers or multiple powers which is an unpredictable world I agree with that he saidGandhi also warned about the potential impact of artificial intelligence and the importance of data in the global technology landscape Everyone talks about AI but talking about AI is like talking about the internal combustion engine without talking about petrol The petrol for AI is data If you have AI and you dont have data you are nothing he saidWhich are the two biggest pools of data on the planet The Indian and the Chinese pools They also have 14 billion people we have a bigger population than them we allow more freedom we allow our people to do more dynamic things so we have in fact the more interesting data he addedHe said India must recognise its strengths in a rapidly changing global environment What you need is to move into a dangerous world we have to understand our strengths the central strength of our country is our people he saidRahul highlights gaps in BudgetThe second strength Food and our farmers Food is abundant today Third energy fuel and petrol These are the three things that need to be protected in the turbulent times Gandhi saidHe added that while the Union Budget appears to recognise these areas it does not adequately address themGandhi said the Budget ldquorecognisesrdquo these aspects but there is ldquonothing in the Budget that looks into these issuesrdquoSpeaking about the IndiaUS interim trade agreement Gandhi said In parallel to the Budget we have made a deal with the United States One thing I would like to make clear is something that is not well understood In a context between the US and China the single most valuable asset is Indian dataIf the Americans want to remain a superpower and if the Americans want to protect their dollar the key to that is Indian data Why Because the Chinese have a data pool of 14 billion people he said adding that the combined data pool of the United States Africa and Europe does not match ChinarsquosExplaining Indiarsquos negotiating position Gandhi said If India is going to the table what we put on the table is our people Their wisdom what they do their likes dislikes their imagination and their fears This has suddenly in the 21st century got value In the 20th century it had no valueHighlighting the strategic importance of population Gandhi said I remember so many people saying that population is a weight population is a disaster No population is the biggest asset you can have Its a strength But its only a strength if you recognise that data is importantGandhi says INDIA bloc would negotiate with US lsquoas equalsrsquo not lsquoservantsrsquoDrawing a comparison with how the INDIA Alliance would have handled negotiations with US President Donald Trump Gandhi said We would have said President Trump the most important thing in this equation is the Indian data You want to protect your dollar We are your friends we can protect your dollar but you need to understand that the biggest asset to protect your dollar is with the Indian people Second thing we would have said that President Trump you need to understand that you are going to talk to us as an equal not as servantsHe further said that he would have told the US leadership Our energy security is our energy security and we are going to protect it and added We understand that you need to protect your farmers but we will also protect our farmersWe would go there as equals we would not be made equal to Pakistan Gandhi saidHe also stated that an INDIA bloc government would have responded to Pakistan Field Marshal Asim Munirrsquos meeting with the US PresidentGandhi further alleged that the trade arrangement could limit Indiarsquos strategic autonomy in energy procurementThe US will now decide where we will buy our oil from and not our Prime Minister and if India buys oil from a country that the US does not approve of then they will punish us with tariffs he saidContinuing his criticism Gandhi added Youve weaponised energy and you dont have any solutions to overcome thisInputs from IANS