New Delhi: The Congress on Monday took a swipe at the BJP-led Central government hours after US President Donald Trump warned that Washington could raise tariffs on India “very quickly”, saying that “Namaste Trump, Howdy Modi events, forced hugs” and social media posts praising the American leader have yielded little benefit.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said, “The PM’s good friend in the White House continues his ‘blow hot, blow cold’ approach to India. He has yet again threatened higher tariffs on US imports from India if India did not stop buying oil from Russia.”
“All those Namaste Trump, Howdy Modi events, all those (forced) hugs, and all those social media posts hailing the US President have done very little good,” Ramesh said.
Even senior Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sappal said that US President Trump working and speaking style has been controversial.
“But question is what India is doing? Have we have laid down our diplomacy that where it is required we will not speak and the US President is making claims that India is trying to please him and Modi is a good person and he is trying to please him. India which is a big country, which has a big market and Indian government has been unable to show its strength to the US government. Don’t know why Trump keeps on speaking and Modiji and his government is not giving answers. And despite remaining silent what gain has been made by India. The US has already made damage to India as they have already imposed 50 per cent tariff on India,” he said.
“India needs to realise its own strength and it needs to speak directly on diplomacy. The new video of US Trump is very bad and it doesn’t reflect good for India and it disrespects India and the government must reply, Sappal added.
The remarks from the Congress leader came after Trump while speaking to reporters on Sunday said, “They (India) wanted to make me happy, basically. Modi is a very good man; he is a good guy. He knew I was not happy, and it was important to make me happy. They do trade, and we can raise tariffs on them very quickly. It would be very bad for them.”
His remarks came after US Senator Lindsey Graham, who was accompanying him, said the tariffs imposed by Trump were the “chief reason” India is now purchasing substantially less Russian oil.
Graham referred to his tariff bill proposing a 500 per cent levy on imports from countries buying Russian oil, saying pressure must be exerted on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s customers to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Trump added that sanctions were hurting Russia “very badly” and mentioned India, after which Graham said the US had imposed a 25 per cent tariff on India for buying Russian oil.
