Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), revealed the alleged reason behind PM Modi being unable to stand up to US President Donald Trump amid the ongoing trade tensions. He probed that it was likely due to the “ongoing U.S. investigation into Adani.”
This statement from Rahul Gandhi comes after a clash in trade intentions of both the US and India. Trump levied 25% tariffs on all Indian products with an undisclosed penalty amount for buying oil from Russia, India’s long-standing trade partner in military equipment and more. Trump’s remarks on India not being a good trading partner also came with a threat to increase tariffs “very substantially” for the same.
In his post, Gandhi added, “One threat is to expose the financial links between Modi, AA, and Russian oil deals. Modi’s hands are tied.” There has been no reaction to this post from the Modi government or the Adani group. However, Gandhi’s post comes days after he was urged by the Supreme Court bench to “make comments in Parliament, not social media,” during the proceedings in the criminal defamation case against him for comments on the India-China clash in Galwan, he made in December 2022.
Probe into Gautam Adani
Gautam Adani and seven others have been accused of giving bribes to Indian government officials worth $265 million. Among these members is Adani’s nephew Sagar, the director of the renewable energy unit Adani Green Energy Ltd. This bribery case includes incidents from 2020 to 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts. This deal would, in turn, yield nearly $2 billion in profits over 20 years, reported ET.
India’s response to Trump
As a response to Trump’s penalty tariffs and accusation of India buying Russia oil, New Delhi issued a sharp counterattack on both the US and the European Union for being “unjustified and unreasonable”.
India also strongly rejected the unjustified claims and dismissed the criticism. This response highlighted the double standards in singling it out while the US and EU continue trade with Russia.
On Tuesday, Trump claimed he was unaware of American imports of Russian uranium, fertilizers, and chemicals. His remarks came in response to a question about India’s statement pointing out these ongoing US imports.