TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, on Thursday, sharply reacted on U.S. imposition of 50 percent tariff on Indian imports, calling it a colossal failure of BJP led NDA’s foreign diplomacy. He questioned the silence on part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reminding that it was he who, for the first time in the history of Independent India - as a prime minister, had campaigned for Donald Trump in Texas in 2019 ahead of the U.S. Presidential polls.
“Mamata Banerjee never campaigned for Donald Trump, TMC never invited Trump to campaign for us in Bengal. But you should ask the person who campaigned for him - invited him to Gujarat - what’s the matter and why has Trump imposed 50% tariff on us. What happened to his 56’ courage and why can’t we retaliate” said Banerjee. He also showed an old video clip from 2019 Modi’s Texas tour where he had endorsed President Trump’s candidature. In 2020, Trump had however lost to Joe Biden.
The Diamond Harbour three time MP also slammed home minister Amit Shah in India shying away from capturing Pakistan occupied Kashmir after Operation Sindoor and with even after the entire opposition supporting the government - a rare show of unity in India. “We are in this loop of terror attacks- first Pulwama and then Pahalgam. The Home Minister on the parliament floor has said that PoK is ours, we all supported the government but yet they didn’t take the PoK back. The entire country supported them but they made us look weak before the world. This is complete failure of India due to BJP- NDA’s botched up policies” he said at Kolkata airport before leaving for New Delhi.
He also condemned Donald Trump referring to Indian economy “dead” and reiterated that Indian economy can never die because of the 140 crore people. “I can say Indian economy is in ICU. This imposition of U.S. tariff will have an adverse impact on India’s job sector- specially the IT sector”, he however said, almost echoing what Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had said last week.
Donald Trump had first imposed 25 percent tariff and an unspecified penalty on India, effective from August 1, while registering objection to India’s continued procurement of oil from Russia. President Trump thereafter had warned india to change policy or face further tariffs, warning that India’s procurement of Russian energy is contributing to the Russia- Ukraine war.
The Indian government has sharply criticised the United States following President Donald Trump's decision to impose an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian imports. In a strongly worded statement, India described the move as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable" and vowed to take steps to protect its national interest. India has previously pushed back against Washington’s threats of punitive action, accusing both the US and the European Union of hypocrisy and economic coercion. India has hit back at U.S. saying that while asking India to halt trade with Russia, Trump administration themselves were continuing trade with Russia- touted as their double standards.
