Modi under fire over US deal as Russia denies oil plan change

2026-02-04 - 03:26

KARACHI: The Indian National Congress on Tuesday criticised the Narendra Modi government for the trade deal struck with the United States, calling on the BJP government to take the nation into confidence about details of the deal. United States President Donald Trump announced a “trade deal” with India on Monday after speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying New Delhi agreed to stop buying Russian oil and may purchase it instead from Venezuela. Interestingly, the Kremlin said it had not received any indication from India that it would stop buying Russian oil following the announcement of a trade deal with President Trump. “So far, we haven’t heard any statements from New Delhi on this matter,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Just like the ceasefire, the announcement of the trade deal was also made by US President Trump. It has been stated that the trade deal is being done ‘on Modi’s request’,” the Congress said in a post on social media platform X on Tuesday. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh compares Modi’s stance on deal to his ‘surrender’ during Pakistan-India conflict last year It slammed the move to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers against the US to zero, saying, “It seems India has agreed to completely open our market for America. This will impact Indian industry, traders and farmers.” It also questioned whether the security and interests of Indian farmers had been ensured amid talk of opening the agriculture sector to the US, and whether the Modi government had agreed to the condition stated by Trump that it would no longer buy Russian oil. “In addition, there is talk of buying more goods from America. If that’s the case, then what happened to ‘Make in India’?”