E-Paper
‘Grips and a choke’: Rahul explains jiu-jitsu in attack on PM Modi over US trade deal
Rahul Gandhi questioned why India would make trade-offs involving data, agriculture and industry with US. He said the answer lies in the "grips and the choke".
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, explained his jiu-jitsu martial arts analogy used in Parliament while criticising the India-US trade deal. The Congress leader, in a video on his social media handles on Friday, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "trapped" in political "grips" and a "choke" that are not visible to the public.
"A lot of people have asked me why I used a Jiu-Jitsu analogy in my Parliament speech. And the reason I used the idea of grips and a choke is because these exist in the sport of Jiu-jitsu, and it's how you control an opponent," Gandhi said in a video posted on X.
The Rae Bareli MP added that similar methods exist in politics but are not visible to the public.
"Political grips and political chokes are mostly hidden. The average person can't see them. And you have to look carefully to see where the choke is being applied," he said.
Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "trapped" between multiple pressures. Referring to the Adani case in the United States and the Epstein Files, he claimed that several Indian names were linked to matters in the files that have not yet been released.
"On one side, there is China sitting on our border, and on the other side, there's the USA. And our Prime Minister is torn between these grips. He's trapped," Gandhi said.
He further alleged that the Prime Minister's public image was sustained by financial backing and that control over that image lay outside India. Gandhi claimed that policy decisions could affect farmers and the textile sector, and alleged that India could be pushed to increase imports from the United States.
He also raised concerns over data governance.
"But most important is the data. The fact that our data is being handed over by Mr Narendra Modi to American companies to the United States for a pittance. And mark my words, we are going to become a data colony," he said.
Gandhi questioned why India would make trade-offs involving data, agriculture and industry with the US, stating that the answer lies in the "grips and the choke" applied on the Prime Minister.
How the BJP has reacted to Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the parliament
When Rahul Gandhi first made the allegations in Parliament last week, Union minister Kiren Rijiju interrupted him, saying the Congress leader was repeating his remarks. The minister said Gandhi's remarks have “serious connotations”, and asked Rahul to further authenticate his allegations.
“Rahul Gandhi kept repeating it. We still said you can move on to the next subject, and we are ready to hear you. But you repeated again. You took the Prime Minister's name, and the word you used and the allegations you levelled - I want to request and demand you, through the Chair, that whatever allegations you have made, despite the Chair's objection, you have to authenticate them,” Rijiju had said at the time.
Parts of Rahul's speech were later expunged by Speaker Om Birla.
