‘Frightened’: Rahul targets PM over Trump’s oil claim

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of surrendering key policy decisions to US President Donald Trump and said the PM was "frightened" of Trump. The remark came after Trump claimed that Modi had assured him India would stop buying oil from Russia.

“PM Modi is frightened of Trump,” Rahul posted on X, alleging that the PM had allowed Trump to dictate India’s foreign policy choices.

“He allows Trump to decide and announce that India will not buy Russian oil, keeps sending congratulatory messages despite repeated snubs, cancels the Finance Minister’s visit to America, skips Sharm el-Sheikh and doesn’t contradict him on Operation Sindoor,” Rahul said.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Modi’s silence over Trump’s repeated claims reflected a weakening of India’s leadership.

“At 5.37 pm on May 10, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was the first person to announce that India had halted Operation Sindoor. Subsequently, Trump has claimed 51 times in five different countries that he had intervened to stop Operation Sindoor by using tariffs and trade as his weapon of pressure. Yet our PM kept silent,” Ramesh wrote on X.

He further said Trump’s latest remark on India halting Russian oil imports showed how “Mr Modi appears to have outsourced key decisions to America. The 56-inch chest has shrunk and shrivelled,” Ramesh added.

Trump had on Wednesday said, “He’s (Modi) a friend of mine. We have a great relationship. I was not happy that India was buying oil. And he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That’s a big stop. Now we have got to get China to do the same thing.”