AAP's Sanjay Singh alleges Centre 'relaxed' border security norms to help Adani set up energy park
New Delhi (PTI): Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on Wednesday alleged that the Centre "relaxed" border security norms to help Adani set up an energy park at the Pakistan border in Gujarat.
During discussion on the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025 in the Rajya Sabha, Singh said that the Centre controls 50 kilometres of international border across states and still blames state governments for illegal immigrant entry from those borders.
He alleged that the government has "played" with the security of the country by "relaxing" security norms for setting up an energy park in Gujarat at the Pakistan border to benefit a "friend".
"To benefit Adani you have relaxed border security rules. How shameful it is! You compromise on the nation's security for a friend," Singh said.
He questioned the Border Security Force's (BSF) failure to check entry of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh border.
"50 km security is with the BSF in Bengal… You are unable to stop for 50 km. You are not able to speak about your failure. The responsibility of the border in Assam, Tripura, Bengal is with you and you have messed up with its security. You are blaming the state government for your fault," Singh said.
Singh also raised the issue of fugitives Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Nitin Sandesara and Vijay Mallya.
"Dacoits of India, Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi after looting Rs 20,000 crore are sitting outside the country. They are teasing this nation. Why have you not been able to catch those dacoits? Why didn't you freeze their passport?" Singh said.
He alleged that the ruling party members helped Lalit Modi escape from the country.
He said Vijay Mallya is "teasing" the government from overseas after looting Rs 9000 crore of Indian banks and the common man.
Minister of State Nityanand Rai wanted to intervene in the speech but Singh refused to yield. Singh said that TV channels ran news that Mallya would come to India, stay in Tihar barrack and he would be punished.
"They were also talking about bringing Vijay Mallya back. After Rs 9,000 crore loot, Vijay Mallya is teasing from overseas. Nitin Sandesara looted Rs 6,000 crore of India and is teasing you from overseas. I am a respected member of this House. I am a member of the country's highest House but with great pain and agony, I am sharing with you that these cheaters who have looted thousands of crores of India are being treated with luxury in foreign countries and my passport is seized," Singh said.
He said that if the government has a clear intent then it should seize passports of everyone who owes more than Rs 50 crore, so that no one is able to escape from India.
He asked the government to share the number of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants that have been deported from the country.
"You have had a government in the state for the last 11 years, a government in the Centre for the last 11 years and you are unable to tell the number of Bangladeshi intruders that you have chased them out of India...You do only politics. The Bengal election is coming up, politics have started. The Bihar election is coming up, politics have started. Move beyond this," Singh said.
CPI(M)'s V Sivadasan said that giving immigration officers to make final decisions on entry of foreigners means there will be no appeal and therefore it needs to be changed.
“People should have the right to be heard..This government had an infamous history of sending back academics and activists from foreign countries. They were given all permissions yet they were sent back from the airport in an extremely humiliating manner. They were speaking against the politics of hatred which the ruling classes are using to divide the people,” Sivadasan said.
He said that the Bill states any foreigner causing threat to India’s integrity will be denied entry into the country, however, there is a lack of clarity on the threat which the Bill refers to.
BJP member Ajeet Madhavrao Gopchade alleged that illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants are in thousands. He alleged that illegal immigrants do "bogus voting" and are enjoying the benefits of India’s hospitals, schools, ration shops and government schemes for free.
YSR Congress Party's S Niranjan Reddy said that the Bill has stringent provision to curb mischief-mongers which are about 1-2 per cent and those provisions should not create inconvenience for the rest of 98 per cent.
He said that certain countries with whom India shares good relations can be exempted from some of the provisions in the Bill.
BJP members Shmabhu Sharan and Mahendra Bhatt, TDP member Masthan Rao Yadav Beedha and UPP (L) member Rwngwra Narzary also participated in the discussion.
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China slaps a 34 pc tax on all US imports in retaliation for Trump's tariffs
Bangkok (AP): China announced Friday that it will impose a 34 per cent tax on all US imports next week, part of a flurry of retaliatory measures to US President Donald Trump's new tariffs that delivered the strongest response yet from Beijing to the American leader's trade war.
The tariffs taking effect Thursday match the rate that Trump this week ordered imposed on Chinese products flowing into the United States. In February and March, Trump slapped two rounds of 10 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods, citing allegations of Beijing's role in the fentanyl crisis.
The US stock market plunged Friday following China's retaliatory moves. They include more export controls on rare earth minerals, which are critical for various technologies, and a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization over what Trump has dubbed reciprocal tariffs.
China also suspended imports of sorghum, poultry and bonemeal from six US companies, added 27 firms to lists of companies facing trade restrictions, and launched an anti-monopoly investigation into DuPont China Group Co., a subsidiary of the multinational chemical giant.
Trump posted Friday on Truth Social: “CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED - THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO.”
Yet he also indicated he could still negotiate with China on the sale of TikTok even after Beijing pressed pause on a deal following the new tariffs. On Friday, he extended the deadline for the social media app to divest from its Chinese parent company, per a federal law, for another 75 days.
“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs,” Trump posted on his social media site. “We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal.”
China's response to tariffs grows tougher
Beijing's response is “notably less restrained” than during the recent two rounds of 10 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods, and that “likely reflects the Chinese leadership's diminished hopes for a trade deal with the US, at least in the short term,” wrote Gabriel Wildau, managing director of the consultancy Teneo.
He said Beijing's tough response could trigger further escalation, with no sign that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump might meet soon or get on the phone to ease the tensions.
If China's previous responses were scalpels, this time it drew a sword, said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.
“China's new tariffs stop short of full-blown trade war, but they mark a clear escalation — matching Trump blow-for-blow and signaling that Xi Jinping won't sit back under pressure,” Singleton said.
But the escalation also is squeezing out space for diplomacy, he warned.
“The longer this drags, the harder it becomes for either side to deescalate without losing face,” Singleton said.
What China's retaliatory measures look like
In Beijing, the Commerce Ministry said it would impose more export controls on rare earths — materials used in high-tech products such as computer chips and electric vehicle batteries. Included in the list was samarium and its compounds, which are used in aerospace manufacturing and the defense sector. Another element called gadolinium is used in MRI scans.
China's customs administration said it had suspended imports from two US poultry businesses after officials detected furazolidone, a drug banned in China, in shipments from those companies. It said it found high levels of mold in the sorghum and found salmonella in the bonemeal feeds from four other US companies.
The Chinese government said it also added 16 US companies to the export control list, subjecting them to an export ban of dual-use products. Among them are High Point Aerotechnologies, a defense tech company, and Universal Logistics Holding, a publicly traded transportation and logistics company.
An additional 11 US companies were added to the unreliable entity list, including the American drone makers Skydio and BRINC Drones, banning them from import and export activities as well as making new investments in China.
In announcing its WTO lawsuit, the Commerce Ministry said Trump's new tariffs move “seriously violates WTO rules, seriously damages the legitimate rights and interests of WTO members, and seriously undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system and international economic and trade order.”
The ministry called the tariffs “a typical unilateral bullying practice that endangers the stability of the global economic and trade order.”
Beijing's previous tariff moves
In February, in response to Trump's first 10 per cent tariff, China announced a 15 per cent tariff on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas products from the US It separately added a 10 per cent tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars.
A month later, Beijing responded to Trump's second round with additional tariffs of up to 15 per cent on imports of key US farm products, including chicken, pork, soy and beef. Experts then said Beijing exercised restraint, leaving room for negotiations with Washington.
By now, dozens of US companies are subject to controls on trade and investment, while many more Chinese companies face similar limits on dealings with US firms.
While friction on the trade front has been heating up, the two sides have maintained military dialogue.
US and Chinese military officials met this week for the first time Trump took office in January to share concerns about military safety on the seas. The talks held Wednesday and Thursday in Shanghai were aimed at minimizing the risk of trouble, both sides said.
