Congress party has attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over imposition of 27 per cent reciprocal tariff on India by the US and said it’s time that the government “develop a spine” and start standing up for the country’s interest.
Leading the charge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said tariffs imposed by the US are going to “completely devastate” the Indian economy, particularly sectors like the auto industry, pharmaceuticals and agriculture.
The government of India must give answers as to what it is doing about the imposition of reciprocal tariffs on India, he demanded while speaking in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour.
“Somebody once asked Indira Gandhi ji — ‘In the matter of foreign policy you lean left or you lean right’, and Indira Gandhi ji answered ‘I don’t lean left or right, I stand straight. I am Indian and I stand straight’, Gandhi said.
Speaking to reporters in Parliament complex, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also took potshots at Prime Minister Modi, saying the imposition of additional tariff on India by the US shows that US leadership is a businessman and our customer fell into his trap.
We will issue a detail statement on behalf of the party on this issue, Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said.
According to PTI, When asked, Congress MP Manish Tewari said the imposition of additional tariff is a complete failure of the negotiations between the government of India and the Trump administration. Earlier Tewari had tweeted on X
1. The million Dollar question is that in 2 hours and 15 minutes will US Reciprocal Tariff’s hit India or not or would the allegedly agreed Terms of Reference ( TOR’s) pause them temporarily ?
2. Thousands of Indian students in United States are reaching out to express their…
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) April 2, 2025
America has gone ahead and done what it wanted to do. Coupled with that you have the unfortunate situation where the visas of Indian students are being cancelled en masse. The government of India is not raising its voice, he told PTI in Parliament complex.
It’s time the government develop a spine and start standing up for Indian interests and Indian people, he added.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor Speaking to ANI, “The Congress party is demanding clarity from the government on their stand on this issue because many reports are stating that the US is objecting to various tariffs. For example, complaining about the agricultural subsidies given in the form of MSPs and so on. But India knows that our farmers are already living in desperate conditions and that if their products are swamped by agricultural imports, then it could have some consequences.”
“What the Congress party leadership was trying to accomplish today was to demand of the government to come and make a clarificatory statement in the Lok Sabha, because Parliament is the platform where the nation gets to hear from the government as to what they are planning to do. So some clarity as to the government’s stand is what the party was asking for,” he added.
