New Delhi [India], February 16 (ANI): BJP MP Nishikant Dubey took a swipe at the Congress party, accusing it of double standards in political discourse.

In a post on X, Dubey referred to a 1964 message by a Congress parliamentary leader that equated former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru with the nation.

He wrote, 'The Congress Party's official line, the leader of that party in the House, in 1964, gave the country the message: Nehru means India, India means Nehru. No problem because they came from the Congress Party's royal family, i.e., a wealthy family--here, just by saying that Prime Minister Modi ji is above questions, sparks controversy.'

Dubey's remarks come amid continuing political sparring with the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi over the India-US interim trade agreement. The row centres on the agreement's impact on India's massive textile sector and its millions of cotton farmers. 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.

This prompted a response from the BJP leader, who said Gandhi's claims about cotton production and textile mills are false and challenged him to a debate on any forum. Later, he spoke to ANI, where he further criticised Gandhi, calling him a 'mahamurkh' LoP, and defended the Centre's approach to safeguarding farmers and boosting exports.

The row was sparked when Rahul Gandhi, in a video message on X, 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 to cotton imports from India, which he said could worsen the situation for Indian producers. (ANI)