Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after US President Donald Trump repeated his claim for the fourth time in six days that India has agreed to stop buying oil from Russia.
In a post on X, Ramesh said that Prime Minister Modi acknowledged his conversation with Trump, but only to say that Trump wished him a happy Diwali.
However, he further pointed out that Trump has revealed that he also discussed India’s oil imports from Russia, where Prime Minister Modi assured him that it would be “stopped”.
Ramesh wrote on Twitter, “The Prime Minister has finally publicly admitted that President Trump called him and both spoke to each other. But the Prime Minister has simply said that the US President wished him a happy Diwali. But where Modi hides, Trump reveals.”
He further said, “On his part, the US President has said that apart from the Diwali wishes, he also spoke about India’s oil imports from Russia and he has been assured that these imports will be stopped. This is the fourth time in six days that the US President has announced the India policy. Earlier, President Trump had announced the halt of Operation Vermillion on the evening of May 10 before Modi.”
His comments came at a time when Prime Minister Modi thanked Trump for his Diwali wishes following a telephone conversation between the two leaders on the occasion.
In a post on Twitter on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi expressed his appreciation for President Trump’s warm wishes and emphasized the shared democratic values and global responsibilities of India and the United States.
Prime Minister Modi wrote to his ex, “President Trump, thank you for your phone call and your warm wishes for Diwali. On this festival of lights, may our two great democracies continue to show a ray of hope to the world and remain united against terrorism in all its forms.”
Trump attended Diwali celebrations at the White House on Tuesday (local time) and extended warm wishes to the people of India and Indian Americans on the occasion.
During opening remarks, the US President praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called him a “great guy” and a “great friend”, also highlighting US-India ties in trade and regional peace.
Trump said at the event, “I extend my warmest wishes to the people of India. I spoke to your Prime Minister just today. We had a very good conversation. We talked about trade. He is very interested in it. Although we talked some time back that there should be no war with Pakistan. As far as trade is concerned, I was able to talk about that. And we have no war with Pakistan and India. This is a very, very good thing.”
The US President said, “He is a great man and he has become a good friend of mine over the years.”
