Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday criticized the central government for personalizing its foreign policy decisions. This criticism has been made amid US President Donald Trump’s continued threats to impose tariffs on India for purchasing Russian oil. Aiyar urged the government to include foreign policy experts in such important discussions.
When asked about Trump’s tariff threat, Iyer said that as far as he knows, private companies, not public sector companies, are buying Russian oil.
He said, “Why are you asking me? Ask Jaishankar ji… As far as I know, our public sector companies are no longer buying oil from Russia; only private companies are still buying.”
The Congress leader said, “Foreign policy should never be personalized. This is the fundamental mistake of this government. Embracing everyone and saying that you are number one in the world is beyond comprehension. Our foreign service should be fully utilized to build good relations… Foreign experts should also be talked to.”
Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday questioned the Center over US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding Russian oil purchases.
In a post on Twitter, the senior Congress leader said, “The issue of India’s oil imports from Russia has been raised by President Trump three times in the last five days. And there is no doubt that he will escalate the issue further as he prepares to meet President Putin in Budapest this weekend.”
He further said, “President Trump says he has spoken to his good friend Mr. Modi and India has promised to stop these imports. The State Department says it is not aware of any such conversation(!), but President Trump has flatly rejected the State Department’s attempts at denial.”
Earlier on Monday, continuing his criticism of India’s purchase of Russian oil, US President Donald Trump said New Delhi will continue to pay tariffs until it stops its imports from Moscow.
During a press conference on Air Force One, Trump was asked about India’s refusal to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the phone. “Well, if he said that they would keep paying a lot of tariffs, but I don’t think he said that. No, I talked to Indian Prime Minister Modi and he said he would not talk about the Russian oil thing,” he said. Trump said, “But if they wanted to say that, they would be heavily “They’re going to continue to pay tariffs, and they don’t want to do that.”
The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that there was no phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump the previous day. Asked about Trump’s claim that India will stop buying Russian oil, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that there was no phone call between the two leaders on Wednesday. He said, “Was there any conversation or telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump?” Jaiswal said that the two leaders had talked on October 9, in which Prime Minister Modi had congratulated Trump on the success of the Gaza peace plan.
