Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal launched a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, accusing him of opposing India’s progress and casting doubts on the country’s institutions. Addressing a press conference, hours after the India-US trade agreement, Goyal said the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha was trying to mislead the country about the deal, adding that Gandhi has nothing to do with India’s progress.“It is a great misfortune that negative-minded leaders like Rahul Gandhi are trying to mislead or confuse the country today. I condemn Rahul Gandhi’s lies and deceit. He wants to mislead people, but it won’t work. The country is moving forward,” Goyal said.Goyal said he was keen to speak about the deal in Parliament, but the Congress and opposition leaders didn’t let him do so. He questioned Gandhi’s resistance to an agreement that the government believes will help several sectors of the Indian economy.“We all saw that shameful scene, but normally, we would have wanted to discuss this in Parliament. The way the opposition acted so shamefully in Parliament today, particularly the Congress party led by Rahul Gandhi and their allies, DMK, TMC, and the Samajwadi Party, they even insulted the Speaker when they got to his chair. I vehemently disagree with Rahul Gandhi and the opposition,” he said.Goyal questioned Gandhi’s resistance to an agreement that the government claims will help several sectors of the Indian economy and accused him of having a “negative mentality”.Meanwhile, the minister described the agreement as a historic milestone and stated that it will support various sectors of the Indian economy, including industries like textiles and clothing, fisheries, engineering goods and machine parts, gems and jewellery, leather and footwear, technology, and chemicals, which are labour-intensive and focused on exports.The Trump administration’s 50 per cent tariffs on the majority of Indian goods have severely impacted many of these, he added.On Monday night, President Trump announced that the US and India had reached a trade agreement, wherein Washington will reduce the reciprocal tax on Indian exports from the current 25 to 18 per cent.Sergio Gor, the US ambassador to India, who joined last month, stated that Trump made the statement after a phone call with Prime Minister Modi.