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Opposition parties slammed the government after Donald Trump imposed a 25-per percent tariff and penalties on Indian imports, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s friendship with the US president meant little.
According to PTI, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Modi should take inspiration from former prime minister Indira Gandhi and stand up to the president of the United States.
“President Trump has slapped a tariff of 25 percent plus penalty on imports from India. All that ‘taarif’ between him and ‘Howdy Modi’ has meant little,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
“Mr Modi thought that if he kept quiet on the insults that the US President has hurled on India — the 30 claims of stopping Op Sindoor, the special lunch for the Pakistan Army Chief whose inflammatory remarks provided the immediate backdrop to the brutal Pahalgam terror attacks, and US support for financial packages to Pakistan from the IMF and the World Bank — India would get special treatment at the hands of President Trump. Clearly that has NOT happened,” he added.
“He should take inspiration from Indira Gandhi and stand up to the US President,” the Congress leader said.
In another post, Ramesh said, “The prime minister abruptly and suddenly stopped Op Sindoor on the evening of May 10th in the hope of getting a good trade deal with President Trump. But today that deal has not materialised. So what was the use of that capitulation in the first place?”
Taking a jibe at Modi, Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien shared a video of the prime minister and Trump on X. In a post on the microblogging platform, he said, “56 is less than 25! Now what will 56 inch say about the brutal 25 percent Trump tariff. Remember this….”
In the video shared by the TMC leader, Modi is heard saying, “We in India have connected well with President Trump.” He also repeats the slogan “Abki baar Trump Sarkar”.
Talking to reporters in the Parliament complex, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha said, “We are not very happy that it has happened under the rule of Prime Minister Modi. We want our government to accept the inadequacies, take everyone into confidence and say that this country will prevail as a strong entity.”
Communist Party of India MP P Sandosh Kumar described Trump’s decision as “another insult to India”.
“This is another insult to India and India’s prestige. While the trade-agreement discussions are going on on one side, Trump is insulting Indian interests,” he told reporters in the Parliament complex.
Asked about the tariffs, DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said the prime minister should answer questions in this regard.
