Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 14 (ANI): Union Minister Piyush Goyal criticised Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai on Saturday, questioning his grasp of national economic policies. Addressing a gathering, Piyush Goyal defended the current trade framework, asserting that India's cotton capacity and demand are set for significant growth.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal, while speaking to the media said, 'To this day, I still fail to understand how such a foolish person like Rahul Gandhi has been appointed the Leader of the Opposition. The Congress party is unable to grasp that a person with no understanding of economics, with nothing to offer but lies and deceit and tweeting statements, is thousands of miles away from the truth. '

'India's cotton capacity will grow, and its demand will also increase. This policy of importing, processing, and then exporting has been a part of foreign trade policy for centuries; it is nothing new. The SEZ policy, which has been in place since the time of Congress is that you can import anything. If you process it here and export it, it comes down to zero duty. There is no harm in that; on the contrary, people will get jobs, farmers' children will also get jobs, and farmers will get immense opportunities...', Piyush Goyal added.

Earlier, on Saturday Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government of misleading the country over tariff provisions in the India-US interim trade agreement, alleging that the deal would adversely impact India's cotton farmers and textile exporters.

Gandhi said that while Indian garments face an 18 per cent tariff in the United States, Bangladesh is being given a zero per cent tariff benefit on garment exports on the condition that it imports American cotton.

Questioning the policy framework, he alleged that importing American cotton would harm domestic farmers, while not importing it would harm the textile industry. He further claimed that Bangladesh was signalling a possible reduction or halt in cotton imports from India, which, he said, could worsen the situation for Indian producers.

In a post on X, the Congress MP wrote, '18% Tariff vs 0% -- Let me explain how the expert liar Prime Minister and his cabinet are spreading confusion on this issue. And how they are cheating India's cotton farmers and textile exporters through the India-US trade deal. Bangladesh is being given 0% tariff benefit on garment exports to the US -- the only condition is that they import American cotton. After the announcement of 18% tariff on Indian garments, when I raised the question in Parliament about the special concession being given to Bangladesh, the reply from a minister of the Modi government was: 'If we also want the same benefit, we will have to import cotton from America.' Why was this fact hidden from the country till now?

'He said that the agreement would push millions towards unemployment and economic distress. (ANI)