Budget Session 2026 | India's greatest assets are its people and data, Budget fails to protect them: Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha

Rahul Gandhi speaks during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi. Pic/PTI

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday stated that India's people are its biggest strengths and underscored the importance of protecting the nation's vibrant database for standing along with global peers; however, he added that the Union Budget has nothing substantial to protect them.

Gandhi, while speaking on the Union Budget in the Lower House, highlighted three points as the cornerstone of a strong nation -- Artificial Intelligence (AI), food and Energy. He added, in the same breath, that the government has failed to address all these concerns in the Union Budget.

"India's biggest strength is its 1.4 billion people. Everybody is talking about AI. The petrol for AI is data. If you have AI and you don't have data, you have nothing," he said.

Rahul Gandhi slams govt over trade deal, says India's energy interests ‘compromised'

He said that it was important that India protects its energy security interests to maintain its global standing in turbulent times, but, sadly, the government has utterly failed in doing so, accusing it of capitulating India's interests before the US while negotiating the trade deal.

"Today, Energy and finance are being weaponised the world over, but our Budget is completely silent on this," Rahul remarked.

The LoP further stated that had the INDIA bloc negotiated the trade deal with the US, it would have made sure that India's interests supersede everything, and there "remained a level-playing field and not any subjugation as done in this deal".

Rahul Gandhi says INDIA bloc would have ensured ‘equal' negotiations with US

"If the INDIA alliance was negotiating, we would have said, President Trump, you must treat India in equal measure and respect the Indian people. We would have told him that our energy security is ours and we will stand for it always, and we won't accept any compromise on our human potential," he said.

He further said that if Americans want to remain a superpower and if they want to protect their dollar, "we must stand behind our people and protect the sanctity of our data".

"India must be in condition to negotiate with its 'human power'. In the 20th century, the population was seen as a disaster, but in the 21st century, it's a power, but only if due attention is given to it," Gandhi said.

(Inputs from IANS)