'Rubio has once again stunned the nation': Congress slams India's agreement to 'record imports' from US

New Delhi: Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of going the “extra mile to appease and please his good friend” US President Donald Trump and asked why he has agreed to “record imports” from America when he has urged citizens to practice austerity to save foreign exchange.

The remarks followed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statement that India has committed to buying goods worth $500 billion over the next five years focusing on energy, technology, and agriculture after the “terrific work” by American diplomats here on behalf of Trump and the American people.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said Modi has asked citizens to cut down on domestic fuel consumption and overseas travel to save foreign exchange and simultaneously has agreed to record imports from the US at the same time.

“The Indian rupee has lost 12 per cent of its value against the US dollar over the past 12 months. Will this surge in imports from the US not further cause the rupee to depreciate?” he said on ‘X’, adding whether Modi’s “capitulation” was linked to the “relief provided” to Gautam Adani by the Trump administration by dismissing the bribery charges in the solar energy scam.

Ramesh also said countries like Malaysia have declared their trade agreements with the US ‘null and void’ after the US Supreme Court struck down the Trump-tariffs. He said the India-US trade deal was “signed in a hurry” following Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s expose in Lok Sabha.

Claiming that “enormous concessions that threatened” farmers and industries were “unilaterally” made by India, he said, “the logic of this deal has now collapsed after the US Supreme Court’s verdict striking down the tariffs. Why has the Modi Government not had the courage to renounce this anti-people, dangerous trade deal like Malaysia and other countries have?”

“It appears that the compromised Prime Minister is keen on going the extra mile to appease and please his good friend,” he said.

He also questioned how Rubio could on May 21 announce the India visit of the Venezuelan President even before India and Venezuela had “even hinted or confirmed” it.

“Why is all the communication on Indian foreign policy -- from the Operation Sindoor ceasefire and the halting of Russian oil and gas imports, to the Indo-US trade deal and the visit of the Venezuelan President -- now coming first from Washington DC instead of New Delhi? Why have the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister renounced their responsibility to communicate to the Indian people and to the world the foreign policy of our sovereign state?" he asked.