{"id":357161,"date":"2025-10-22T16:13:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T10:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=357161"},"modified":"2025-10-22T16:13:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T10:43:56","slug":"indias-russia-policy-congress-takes-pot-shots-at-pm-modi-over-trumps-repeated-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/indias-russia-policy-congress-takes-pot-shots-at-pm-modi-over-trumps-repeated-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Russia policy\u2014Congress takes pot shots at PM Modi Over Trump\u2019s repeated claims<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Using political statements and satire, the Congress launched a sharp political attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after US President Donald Trump again claimed that India was reducing oil imports from Russia. Trump stated that Modi had assured him of cutting back on Russian crude purchases \u2014 a claim the Indian government has not officially confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition party accused the Modi government of lacking transparency in foreign policy matters, with party leader Jairam Ramesh saying, \u201cWhile Mr. Modi conceals, Mr. Trump reveals.\u201d He criticized the Prime Minister for only publicly acknowledging Trump\u2019s Diwali greetings, without mentioning the discussion on oil imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump praised the Indo-US relationship and mentioned his phone call with Modi, claiming India \u201cis not going to buy much oil from Russia\u201d and that both leaders desire an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He added that India had already reduced its imports significantly and continues to scale back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress noted that this is not the first time Trump has spoken publicly about India’s decisions before the Indian government did \u2014 citing Operation Sindoor as an example, where Trump allegedly announced India\u2019s ceasefire plans with Pakistan before Modi did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On social media, the Congress escalated its criticism by sharing an AI-generated satirical video portraying Trump dictating orders to Modi in Hindi, with Modi responding submissively. The video mocks the Prime Minister\u2019s claim of being a strong leader, suggesting instead that he follows Trump\u2019s lead unquestioningly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress also accused Modi of outsourcing critical foreign policy decisions to Trump, alleging that the PM becomes silent whenever Trump publicly reveals discussions supposedly held in private. The party went further to claim that India\u2019s foreign policy has \u201ccollapsed\u201d under Modi, urging the government to take opposition leaders into confidence through formal consultations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to India\u2019s Ministry of External Affairs,  India\u2019s oil trade is guided by market needs and consumer interest in a volatile energy market. MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said he was unaware of any conversation in which Modi promised to halt oil imports from Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US, under Trump, had increased tariffs on Indian goods \u2014 including penalties linked to India\u2019s oil trade with Moscow \u2014 causing strain in bilateral relations. India called these actions \u201cunfair and unreasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid rising political heat, the Congress continues to challenge the government\u2019s credibility, arguing that Modi\u2019s silence only strengthens perceptions of a one-sided relationship where key national decisions are influenced by external powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using political statements and satire, the Congress launched a sharp political attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after US President Donald Trump again claimed that India was reducing oil imports from Russia. Trump stated that Modi had assured him of cutting back on Russian crude purchases \u2014 a claim the Indian government has not officially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":314718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1801,53],"tags":[16003,18841,16742,316],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":357162,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357161\/revisions\/357162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/314718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}