Modi vows to ‘stand like a wall’ to protect India’s farmers

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared that his government will “stand like a wall” to protect the interests of the nation’s farmers. The vow comes amid escalating trade tensions with the US after President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods.

New Delhi and Washington have been engaged in talks over a trade deal, with multiple reports suggesting that the negotiations hit a roadblock as the Indian government was reluctant to open up its agriculture and dairy markets to American products.

”I am standing like a wall for our farmers,” Modi said in his Independence Day speech at Delhi’s Red Fort on Friday. He added that self-reliance in agriculture and industry was a way to protect India’s sovereignty.

The Indian leader called on the country to increase its economic resilience by making products with lower costs and higher value.

”Self-reliance is not just about exports, imports, the rupee, or the dollar. It is about our capabilities, our strength to stand on our own,” Modi added.

He said that those who “rely too much on others invite a big question mark over their freedom,” adding that “the real misfortune begins when dependence becomes a habit.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday called India “a bit recalcitrant” in trade talks with the US, sparking backlash in New Delhi.

Indian Congress Party MP and head of the country's Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, responded to Bessent's remarks on Thursday, suggesting in a post on X that it is “far better to be recalcitrant than to be tractable, submissive, or acquiescent in injustice.”

Trade negotiations between India and the US collapsed earlier this month, and Washington initially imposed 25% tariffs on Indian imports before adding another 25% for the South Asian country’s continued purchases of Russian oil. The second set of tariffs will be implemented starting on August 27. New Delhi has called the US tariffs “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable,” and has vowed to protect its national interests.