Extracts of the Congress President & Leader of Opposition (LoP), Rajya Sabha, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge’s address at the ‘Kisan Maha Chaupal’ in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on February 24, 2026.

While addressing the Kisan Mahachaupal, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said - Friends, our budget is going on in the Parliament, then we are going to meet on the 9th and even at that time, we will put forward our point in the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and whatever point has to be put forward and whatever had to be said, Rahul ji told you all those things in brief, that is why I have come here to tell you that I have come here to raise the voice of the farmer brothers, the business brothers, the small scale industrialists, the labourers.

The voice emanating from here will resonate throughout the country, and as Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji said: “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisaan.” I will say one more thing, and you will have to say, “Narendra Modi, surrender Modi.” Let’s move forward now. Brothers, what Rahul Ji just said about the trade deal between the United States and India, we’re going through a difficult time. India is the world’s largest democracy. But both Democracy and the Constitution are under threat. Modi, who has completely destroyed our honor and dignity, is selling the country, leading it towards slavery, turning farmers into laborers, and trying to push them into slavery. That’s why Modi, for a long time, and even earlier, 8-10 years ago, used to say that he considered US President Trump a friend: “We talk over tea, we greet each other every morning.” Who is this trumpeter? Modi. You know, and the BJP members should know: what did Modi talk about when he woke up every day and talked over tea? Was he trying to sell our India? Was he trying to sell our farmers? Was he talking about enslaving us? I have never seen such a cowardly Prime Minister in my life.

I’ve been in politics for at least 60 years, serving as an MLA and MP for 54 years. But I’ve never seen a Prime Minister who refuses to come to Parliament, meet us, or, as Rahul Gandhi Ji said, doesn’t even make eye contact, doesn’t even present his point, doesn’t hold a press conference, and is never willing to come to Parliament but says his ‘Mann ki baat’ on Sundays. You should instead come and tell your ‘Mann ki baat’ in the Parliament. So, our Prime Minister is so cowardly. What do they do? They try to intimidate the Congress Party. They abuse the Congress Party. They harass the Congress’ Youth Congress. But friends, remember, the Congress Party will never be intimidated. We, our Party, our workers drove out the British and achieved independence. You cowards surrendered. You RSS members surrendered, everyone wrote an apology, and then they talk about patriotism. The real patriotism is in the Congress Party, in the Youth Congress Party, among the farmers, and here, but these people, Modi ji, always pat themselves on the back, saying, “I am a great patriot.” If you were patriotic, you wouldn’t bow down to Trump and brag about him. Such a cowardly Prime Minister we have got, but he tries to intimidate everyone by talking about it again and again. I congratulate all our people for the work they are doing today, especially our Congress leaders and the youth. They boldly went before Modi and told him at his function, “The youth of this country don’t have jobs, they are on the streets, they don’t have food, they are hungry. Farmers’ cotton, soybeans, oil, pulses are all being hit hard. You should not compromise. We went there for this, but he said, ‘It’s an insult to the country.’

I ask, you are the one insulting the country because the day you mortgaged our self-respect to Trump, our dignity was lost and today our Congress’ youth say that the dignity of the country is gone. When the Commonwealth Games were held, these same BJP people, when youth from outside came to the ground for the games, they did Satyagraha at that time, they showed black flags, they stopped vehicles and insulted the country and such people say that you insulted the country. We are the ones who saved the country, we are the ones who laid our lives, we have never been the ones who take lives. We do not have any Godse, we have Gandhi and today we have Rahul Gandhi to fight the battle of the youth.

Modi has remained silent to this day. Trump repeatedly claims that he said this, and that Trump himself said, “I stopped Operation Sindoor, I stopped it by saying so to Pakistan and India.” “Who said this?” Trump asked, and Modi, trembling and pleading, fell at his feet. “You made a huge mistake by stopping Operation Sindoor, and now you’re talking big.” So, I would like to urge you that our Party is strong, don’t be afraid. If you fear, you will die. You have to keep our country alive, our freedom alive, our Constitution alive, and our Democracy alive. We have to learn to fight. You are fighting that battle, and we are with you.

Today I have come to tell you one more thing. America has vast land, but only two or three percent of its farmers depend on agriculture. In our country, 65 percent of the population depends on agriculture, and only two or three percent of the people in America work as farmers. They have machinery and thousands of acres of land each, but we have small marginalized farmers with 2 acres, 4 acres, 10 acres, 8 acres. Whatever our small farmers produce, whatever they produce, Modi is destroying it, and the price they should receive is also decreasing. Because even in America, whatever cheap goods are available and whose quality is poor, they will dump them all in India and sell them here at a low price. What will our farmers do? Where will they go? Trump has planned this only to destroy our farmers, but Modi is with him, not with the farmers.

A leader here, formerly the Chief Minister, always used to say, “I’m a farmer, I’m that,” “I brought this scheme, that scheme.” But that’s fine, brother, while you were Chief Minister, you must have brought something to Madhya Pradesh, you might have even eaten some too. But I ask, now that you’re in Delhi, why don’t you speak out against the mistakes Modi is making? “Sir, this is against farmers, this is against labourers, this is against our country,” Chauhan Sahib, why aren’t you saying this? If you want to protect the interests of laborers and farmers, fight Modi. They drove you away from here and took you there; you didn’t do anything. But as soon as you arrive in Delhi, he makes grand statements; it’s out of compulsion, because he’s bowed down before Modi. Anyone who’s used to bowing down will continue to do so. Let them. As it was just said, brother, textiles are finished, leather industry is finished, soybeans are finished, pulses are finished, everything of our country is finished and the fruits grown in Jammu and Kashmir and our Uttarakhand, Himachal, will also not get the price because that is also in the agreement. What else is there in the agreement? They have also said that we will tell you about some additional things later when the final agreement is made, so they have kept that distinction as well. But today, the people here who claim to be well-wishers of their farmers have become the ones who sing praises of Trump. Schemes like MGNREGA were launched. Sonia Gandhi Ji brought the Right to Work Act to feed the poor, it fed the labourers. Free education for children, that was the Right to Education. Does Modi do all this or has he done it? His only work is to change names. Go anywhere, change the name of the road, change the name of the building and this is the only thing left, he is not changing his own name. He should change his own name for good. Because the name he was born with, he was born in the Congress era. So, I was born in the Congress era, this Modi is not my name, if there is any new name then you tell me.

Such madness is filled in their minds and their foreign policy is useless and they don’t do the things they should do. They should do good for the people. They have left all that. A Brazilian President Lula comes and says - brother, don’t lose courage Modi ji, I am also protecting the farmers in Brazil, you should also stand up, help the farmers, we will fight together, he said. But they don’t have the courage to say anything about them, to say anything to Trump. But he said - support me, all the people and nations of the world will unite and fight against Trump, but they are not even saying that. You all know that Russia, our old friend, used to sell oil to us. Iran used to sell oil to us, and we used to buy it cheaply from there. But Trump said, “Modi, if you even by mistake buy oil from Russia or Iran, you will be in trouble.” He threatened us and Modi Ji said, “Yes, sir.” Everything Trump says is “Yes, sir.” They raise their hands, rub their noses, and bow their heads, accepting his orders. So, this is the first time I’m seeing such a Prime Minister, and if such people stay in power for long, it’s a huge loss for the country.

What is its impact? Rahul ji just told and I will also say the same thing that brother, goods worth a total of 45 lakh crore rupees, that is 500 billion rupees, will have to be purchased from America in 5 years. Who said this - Trump said. Who accepted it - Modi accepted it. Earlier, India used to export goods worth 86 billion rupees annually. We used to send, export and import 46 billion rupees, so this means we used to earn 40 billion rupees. We used to earn, we used to earn on the goods that came from America, but today they have surrendered everything to the farmers, as our leader said by naming everything, I do not want to repeat the same thing again and again.

Our brothers should also know that compromises are made between equals, who weigh the pros and cons. It’s not like one is too submissive and the other is too dominant, and that’s how the agreement was reached. Modi was made to bow down, and he stood up and said, “What are the terms? What are my positions? You have to trade under those conditions, or I’ll impose tariffs.” Trump even disobeyed the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said, “Your imposition of such a skewed tariff is not right. We don’t agree with it, remove it.” Then he first proposed a 10 percent tariff, and today he proposed a 15 percent tariff, promising to implement it everywhere. So, Trump is behaving like Mohammad Tughlaq, and our Prime Minister is behaving like Hitler. The country will suffer a huge loss because of this.

Brothers, we will not accept any trade agreement that puts national interests at stake. We will not accept any attack on the farmer’s livelihood. We will not accept any compromise with energy security. We will not accept any compromise with India’s sovereignty and self-reliance. India wants to be self-reliant on such issues, wants to live with dignity, does not want to fear anyone, does not want to live in abject fear. We will live with dignity, keep our freedom strong, keep our Constitution strong, and keep our Democracy strong – this is our demand.

So that’s why I don’t want to say much to you, because they will have to withdraw this MGNREGA law as well. Just like they withdrew the three black laws for farmers, 750 farmers died, after that they withdrew it. Similarly, the MGNREGA law, which is for the poor, the law of G-Ram-G that they have brought today, is harmful for us. Therefore, we will restore MGNREGA and fight for it. You too will support us. I will end my speech, because this is a matter of the country, so thank you all. Jai Hind! Thank you everyone! Namaskar!