Thiruvananthapuram, March 7 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday that the India-US deal essentially handed over India's data to the United States of America, and that no one, except him, raised any concerns about it.
Gandhi made this statement while responding to questions about data protection during a dialogue with the Information Technology (IT) fraternity at Technopark here.
He said that if India had declared that its data was the most valuable in the world, there would have been no taxes on agriculture or on small and medium businesses.
"What I mean is, if in that deal, India were to say, 'This is all fine, but our data is the most valuable data in the world, then I can guarantee you there would be no taxes on agriculture. There would be no taxes on small and medium businesses. There would be none of that,' " said Rahul, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha.
He said that when entering into negotiations, one must know what one possesses.
"We have a huge diversity. So, we can understand many different things from many different angles. We have the largest amount of data on this planet. We have the best engineering talent. We have the best medical talent.
"Kerala produces the best nurses. Now, come and negotiate with me. Don't negotiate with me without clearly understanding what I have on my side. That is how it should be," he said.
The LoP said that if Russia hands over its entire oil reserves to the US, there would be a lot of uproar.
But, he claimed that there was "no mention" of this in India when its data was handed over to the US as part of the deal signed by the central government.
He said that one of the key questions that the Indian political system needs to discuss is how to utilize the country's biggest resource, data – what is its nature, who has access to it, and at what cost?
"These are the questions that the political system should actually be discussing. Not whether, you know, what we should eat and what we should drink and whether cow urine is good for you. So, it's actually a democratic exercise. It's a listening exercise, because really nobody has the answer," Rahul said.
He said that it must be a conversation with Indian businesses, the people of the country, multinational corporations, and the US.
"This is the most powerful conversation India can have," he added.