Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mounted a detailed rebuttal to Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, accusing the Congress of having “surrendered” India’s interests at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and rejecting allegations that the government was “selling the country”.In the final phase of her reply to the Budget debate, Sitharaman said the LoP had expressed “serious concern” over artificial intelligence and data governance, alleging that India’s data was being handed over to foreign companies.“This is incorrect,” she said, asserting that the government was incentivising the setting up of data centres precisely to ensure that data remained within India and generated employment for youth. She said the India AI Mission had been allocated Rs 1,000 crore to strengthen domestic capacity and improve services for Indian customers.Amid interruptions from the Opposition benches, the Finance Minister appealed for patience. “When I am replying to the Leader of the Opposition, ask your members to listen patiently,” she told Congress MP KC Venugopal.On food security, Sitharaman said Rs 2.27 lakh crore had been allocated in the Budget and that the government was continuing to provide free foodgrain to 80 crore beneficiaries.She also countered the Opposition’s charge of rising prices, stating that food inflation was currently below 2 per cent, compared to double-digit levels of 10-11 per cent during the UPA regime.Taking on the LoP’s remarks on geopolitics, energy security and the “weaponisation of finance”, Sitharaman said the Budget had made specific provisions to address global uncertainties. She pointed to a Rs 50,000‑crore Economic Stabilisation Fund to deal with unforeseen shocks and a Rs 9,800‑crore Technology Security Fund aimed at countering the weaponisation of technology and finance.On energy security, she said the Budget emphasised autonomy in critical minerals to shield India from disruptions. Customs duty exemptions had been provided, Rs 2,500 crore allocated for nuclear power and Rs 600 crore for the National Green Hydrogen Mission. She accused the LoP of not having read the Budget in detail.In a politically charged segment of her speech, Sitharaman took strong exception to Rahul’s allegation that the government had “sold India” and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “surrendered”.“Modi ji will stand firm for the interests of the country,” she said, before turning the charge back on the Congress. Recalling the 2013 WTO Bali Ministerial, she said the then UPA government had signed the Trade Facilitation Agreement without adequately safeguarding India’s position on public stockholding of foodgrain.According to her, without securing a “peace clause”, India would have faced restrictions from January 2017 on procuring foodgrain from farmers at MSP and distributing them through the Public Distribution System (PDS). “If we had not fought and secured the peace clause at the WTO, we would not have been able to run the PDS or provide food to the poor,” she said, adding that the clause enabled the government to distribute free ration during the Covid pandemic.“These are the people who surrendered at the WTO and now they are accusing our Prime Minister,” she said, asserting that the LoP had “no moral right” to make such allegations.In her concluding remarks, Sitharaman also referred to the 2009 Sharm el‑Sheikh joint statement during the Manmohan Singh government, accusing the Congress of having “hyphenated India with Pakistan”.“You cannot suppress my voice by shouting. Today, the entire country will hear this,” she said, as the House witnessed continued exchanges between the Treasury and Opposition benches.The heated debate capped a Budget session marked by sharp differences over economic policy, global headwinds and the government’s handling of strategic and trade‑related issues.Amid criticism from some states, including West Bengal and Kerala, that they were being “ignored”, Sitharaman said several sector‑specific schemes would directly benefit them.Referring to West Bengal, she said legacy MSME clusters “anywhere in Bengal” were eligible under the scheme to upgrade 200 traditional industrial clusters across the country with modern hardware and software support.In a pointed political remark, she also referred to the law‑and‑order situation in West Bengal, saying, “In Bengal, bombs operate. The law does not operate,” triggering protests from the Opposition benches.The Finance Minister outlined multiple employment‑linked initiatives announced in the Budget. Five regional medical hubs would create one lakh opportunities over five years in allied health services, she said.Five major textile and leather parks, elderly care training programmes targeting 1.5 lakh caregivers, 10,000 trained tourist guides for 20 iconic tourism centres and more than 20,000 veterinary professionals under a loan‑linked capital subsidy scheme were among the other employment‑generating initiatives she listed.She also highlighted expanded support for self‑help groups under the “Lakhpati Didi” initiative and the new “SHE‑Mark” framework to help women transition from credit‑linked livelihoods to independent entrepreneurship.