Rahul on Indo-US trade deal: PM buckled under pressure to sell out farmers' blood & sweat
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi buckled under US pressure to finalise a trade deal and “sold out” the hard work of the Indian farmers through the agreement.
Addressing reporters in the Parliament House complex after he was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha as he insisted on quoting from an article that cited former Army chief M M Naravane's unpublished “memoir”, Gandhi also said that it is for the first time in history that the Leader of Opposition has not been allowed to speak on the president's address.
In a post on X, Gandhi said, “PM Modi is Compromised. PM is too afraid to let me speak in Parliament about Naravane, Epstein Files and how he has surrendered on Tariffs.”
Hitting back at the Congress and Gandhi, BJP MP Anurag Thakur asked whether the Congress and others in the opposition are with India's interest.
He also slammed Gandhi over his allegation that Prime Minister Modi buckled under US pressure to finalise the trade deal.
Speaking to reporters, Gandhi said the issue is not Naravane's statement, “that is a side show”, but the main thing is that “our prime minister has been compromised”.
“I want to say three things. They are not allowing me to speak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is rattled. And the trade deal that had been stuck for the last four months, for some reason which Prime Minister Modi and I know, was sealed last evening,” he said.
Gandhi also claimed that Modi is under "enormous pressure", and his “image balloon” that had been inflated with thousands of crores could burst.
“The issue is not Naravane's statement, that is a side show, he (Modi) and I both know it. The main thing is that our prime minister has been compromised. Who has done it and how it has been done, the people of India have to think about it,” Gandhi said.
The Leader of Opposition also said the farmers of India must understand that there has been a “sell-out” of their hard work, as well as their blood and sweat, by Prime Minister Modi through this deal.
“He has sold it because he is compromised. He has not just sold you off, but the whole country. That is why they are not allowing me to speak,” Gandhi said, claiming that the prime minister is “scared”.
Asked what kind of pressure he was referring to, Gandhi said there is a case against industrialist Gautam Adani in the US and a lot more is to come in the Epstein files matter.
“There is a case on Adani in the US… That is not targeting Adani but Modi's financial structure. The Epstein files have more matter,” Gandhi said.
The Epstein files refer to thousands of pages of documents related to two criminal investigations into sex trafficking by financier Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, including travel logs, recordings, and emails, which have been a topic of conversation since Epstein died in custody in 2019.
Gandhi also called the pressure of the Epstein files and the case against Adani the two “pressure points” for the government.
In another X post in Hindi, Gandhi said, "For the first time in history, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha is not being allowed to speak on a serious issue like national security.”
“Why is Mr Modi so rattled by General Naravane's statement and the Epstein case,” he asked.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the US has stated that American farmers' products will now be sold in the Indian market, bringing money to rural America.
“India's millions of farmers want to know what the terms of this trade agreement are? Is the Modi government planning to fully open the Indian agricultural sector to America? Will the government thrust Indian farmers into direct competition with American companies? Has a compromise been made on the interests of our farmers? The situation must be clarified immediately before the public,” she said.
India and the US agreed to a trade deal under which Washington will bring down reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from the current 25 per cent, US President Donald Trump said on Monday after a phone conversation with Prime Minister Modi.
Modi said he was delighted that "Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18 per cent".
“Wonderful to speak with my dear friend President Trump today. Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18 per cent. Big thanks to President Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement," the prime minister said.
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Rs 30,000 cr loss a month: Oil companies bleed as fuel prices on hold amid global energy spike
New Delhi (PTI): About Rs 700-1,000 crore loss per day. Rs 30,000 crore every month. India's state oil companies are quietly absorbing a massive financial hit to keep petrol, diesel and LPG prices unchanged even as global energy markets face a turmoil that is bigger than all previous crises combined.
While countries from Japan to United Kingdom have raised petrol and diesel prices by up to 30 per cent since the start of the West Asia conflict, fuel prices in India continue at two-year-old levels.
The war disrupted India's import of 40 per cent of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel), 90 per cent cooking gas LPG and 65 per cent natural gas (used to generate electricity, make fertilizer, turned into CNG and piped to household kitchens for cooking), but state-owned oil companies have maintained uninterrupted fuel supplies with no rationing or shortage at any point in the last 10 weeks.
But this has come at a cost - Rs 30,000 crore under-recovery or loss every month for the three oil marketing companies - Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The under-recoveries - the gap between input costs and realised retail prices - rose sharply in March/April before tapering a bit. Daily under-recoveries during April were estimated at about Rs 18 per litre on petrol and Rs 25 per litre on diesel, translating into average losses of Rs 700-1,000 crore a day for OMCs, they said.
At a news briefing on developments in West Asia, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said prices in the international markets, on which India relies to meet 88 per cent of its oil needs, have been volatile and supplies impacted.
Crude oil prices which were around USD 70 per barrel two months ago, are now at USD 120, she said. "It has been government's endeavour to keep prices stable so far and that there is no price increase for consumers," she said. "This has hit finances of OMCs... monthly under-recoveries are of the order of Rs 30,000 crore."
She, however, refused to say if retail petrol and diesel prices will continue to hold.
"As I said, the endeavour so far has been to see that there is no price increase," she said.
The three oil marketing companies (OMCs) have worked overtime to keep the supply lines running even when demand spiked due to panic buying.
The government intervention included excise duty reductions and absorption of part of the fuel cost burden. The special additional excise duty on petrol was cut to Rs 3 per litre from Rs 13, while excise duty on diesel was reduced to zero from Rs 10 per litre.
The under-recoveries would have swelled to nearly Rs 62,500 crore had the government not cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 per litre each.
The government, Sharma said, has taken a hit of Rs 14,000 crore a month in cutting the excise duty.
The Centre's effective absorption at peak crude prices was estimated at around Rs 24 per litre for petrol and Rs 30 per litre for diesel.
The February 28 strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran triggered a sharp escalation in West Asia tensions. Energy prices surged as the conflict widened and shipping risks intensified in the Strait of Hormuz - the shipping lane through which India and other countries imported crude oil, LPG and natural gas from Gulf countries. Tanker movement was disrupted.
The companies also faced additional costs from emergency crude sourcing, higher freight charges due to vessel diversions, elevated marine insurance premiums and refinery optimisation expenses. Despite these pressures, fuel and LPG supplies remained uninterrupted across the country.
The surge in crude prices and the decision to shield consumers from higher retail prices placed significant strain on OMC balance sheets and refining margins, sources said.
They added that the measures reflected a policy decision to prioritise consumer stability and economic continuity during a global energy shock.
Sources warned that a prolonged period of elevated crude prices could lead to higher working capital borrowings and force some recalibration of capital expenditure plans. However, investments linked to refining expansion, energy security infrastructure, ethanol blending, biofuels and transition fuels would continue with government backing, they said.
India's approach contrasted with measures adopted by several other economies, where fuel prices rose sharply after the conflict-driven energy shock.
Petrol prices increased by about 34 per cent in Spain, 30 per cent in Japan, Italy and Israel, 27 per cent in Germany and 22 per cent in the United Kingdom, according to estimates. Several countries also introduced rationing, conservation advisories, emergency relief packages or fuel caps.
In India, petrol prices remained Rs 94.77 per litre and diesel at Rs 87.67, with no rationing, mobility restrictions or supply disruptions, they added.
Sharma said the revenues that OMCs earn are used to buy crude oil, build infrastructure to process it into fuel and create channels that will take the fuel to consumers.
Their capex spending is all dependent on the revenues they earn, she added.
