NEW DELHI: Chief of opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a pointy assault on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of “surrendering” beneath “stress” and contrasted his management with that of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.Gandhi’s remarks got here a day after US President Donald Trump, talking on the Home GOP Member Retreat, claimed that PM Modi had sought an viewers with him. “Prime Minister Modi got here to see me, ‘Sir, might I see you please’. Sure,” Trump mentioned.
Trump additionally referred to India dealing with steep tariffs, saying New Delhi was “paying lots of tariffs now” and had “lowered” the acquisition of Russian oil “considerably”.Gandhi shared a video message on X with the caption “Fark samjho sirji”.“I do know these BJP–RSS folks very nicely now. Put just a little stress on them, give them just a little push and so they run away in concern,” Gandhi mentioned. “As quickly as Trump signalled from there, they picked up the telephone and mentioned, ‘What are you doing Modi ji?’ Narendra surrendered and with ‘sure sir’, Narendra Modi ji adopted Trump’s sign.”Drawing a comparability with the 1971 warfare, Gandhi mentioned India had as soon as stood agency regardless of US stress. “You would possibly bear in mind a time when the telephone name didn’t come — the Seventh Fleet had come. Within the 1971 warfare, the Seventh Fleet got here, weapons got here, an plane provider got here. Indira Gandhi ji mentioned, ‘I’ll do what I’ve to do.’ That is the distinction,” he mentioned, referring to the US Seventh Fleet.Trump has imposed tariffs totalling 50% on Indian exports, together with a 25% levy linked to India’s procurement of Russian oil.“I’ve an excellent relationship with him. He’s not that proud of me as a result of they’re paying lots of tariffs now as a result of they’re not doing the oil — however they’re, they’ve now lowered it very considerably,” Trump mentioned.The tariffs, imposed in August, have triggered a number of rounds of commerce talks and not less than 4 conversations between the 2 leaders, however have but to yield a bilateral commerce deal.Individually, Trump additionally mentioned in his remarks that India had flagged delays within the supply of Apache helicopters, claiming New Delhi has been ready for the plane for 5 years.
