Economic storm coming, where is PM Modi hiding: Rahul on US tariff issue
Ahmedabad, Apr 9 (PTI): Asserting that an "economic storm" is coming, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the imposition of tariffs by the US and questioned his silence on the issue.
Addressing the AICC session on the banks of the Sabarmati river, Gandhi recalled that when Modi went to the US earlier, he had hugged American President Donald Trump.
"This time did you see their photograph hugging each other? Where has it vanished? President Trump, whom Prime Minister Modi calls a friend, ordered him that listen 'we will not hug each other, this time we will impose tarrifs'. He (Modi) could not utter a word. He has disappeared," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
So that people's attention is not turned towards the tariff issue, they ran a drama in Parliament for two days, Gandhi said in an apparent reference to the late night sittings in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Act.
"But the truth is an economic storm is going to come. When Covid came, PM Modi asked people to bang utensils, switch on the flashlight of mobile phones. Now an economic storm is coming and crores will suffer losses, where is he, where is he hiding," Gandhi asked during his address at the session.
Referring to Modi's recent meeting with Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, Gandhi said the Bangladeshi leader made adverse comments earlier and then Modi was seen sitting with him.
"He was mum, did not speak a word. Where is the 56-inch chest?" the Congress leader said, taking a swipe at Modi.
Gandhi also recalled that when his grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi was asked whether she leans left or right, she stated that she is the prime minister of India and stands straight.
Gandhi claimed the current prime minister just bows before other foreign leaders.
In the resolution adopted at the AICC session, the Congress said its successive governments enhanced India's global stature and demonstrated leadership on the world stage through a principled and visionary foreign policy.
"Our governments' foreign policy was always centred around protection of India's interests, global balance of power, finding solutions through mutual harmony and dialogue, international co-operation and peaceful resolution of disputes. Sadly, the current regime has compromised India's foreign policy at the altar of 'individual branding' and serving 'vested interests'," the resolution titled 'Nyaypath' said.
The Congress said it remains a strong votary of close ties between India and the United States, but it can never happen at the expense of India's national interests.
"During the Prime Minister's visit to Washington, D.C., we were publicly insulted in PM's presence and our country was labelled as a 'Tariff Abuser'. Indian migrants were treated like animals and deported from the United States in chains and handcuffs. Unfortunately, even the External Affairs Minister justified this inhumane treatment of our migrants by the U.S," the resolution said.
"As on 03 April, 2025, United States has imposed +27% tariff on Indian Goods exported to United States, which will severely impact India's foreign trade. U.S., on the other hand, is pressing for reduction of import duties on American goods, particularly in sectors such as Agriculture & Horticulture, Automobiles, and Pharmaceuticals. This would deal a serious blow not only to Indian farmers but also to our dynamic domestic automobile and pharmaceutical industries," it said.
The Congress called upon the ruling regime to undertake a constructive negotiation with U.S on tariffs by placing our national interests first and after taking into confidence all political parties and stakeholders.
"For the present BJP Government, foreign policy has been reduced to a policy of weak-kneed leadership and helpless submission, which is unacceptable," the resolution said.
The Congress said it believes that India's foreign policy can't be an instrument of divisive politics for the domestic political agenda, as is being done by the BJP government.
"The position in our neighbourhood is indeed worrisome. China has illegally occupied thousands of square kilometres of Indian territory in Eastern Ladakh, yet the current BJP government, founded upon the rhetoric of showing "lal aankh" (red eyes), has utterly failed to restore the status quo ante, as it existed prior to April 2020. The proposed construction of the world's largest dam by China on the Brahmaputra river is an alarming development, particularly for Assam and other northeastern states," the resolution said.
The rise of radical elements in neighbouring Bangladesh is also a matter of serious concern, as it has already created an unsafe environment for religious minorities, including Hindus, Buddhists and Christians, it said The unfolding of the large-scale humanitarian tragedy, kidnappings and consequent bombings & thousands of deaths of innocents in Gaza in the Palestine-lsrael conflict has met with a studied silence from our ruling regime, the party said.
The Congress reaffirmed our policy for a negotiated and peaceful resolution as also for the creation of a separate state of Palestine as per the U.N. Resolution.
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Stock markets rise for 7th day; Sensex reclaims 80k-level on rally in IT shares, FII inflows
Mumbai, Apr 23 (PTI): Stock markets extended the winning run to seventh day on Wednesday with benchmark BSE Sensex jumping 520 points to close above 80,000 level for the first time in four months driven by strong gains in IT and auto shares.
The 30-share Sensex rose by 520.90 points or 0.65 per cent to settle at 80,116.49, the highest closing level since December 18. During the day, it surged 658.96 points or 0.82 per cent to 80,254.55.
The NSE Nifty rallied 161.70 points or 0.67 per cent to 24,328.95.
Foreign fund inflows and positive global trends also boosted the market sentiment, analysts said.
Among the Sensex firms, HCL Tech surged the most by 7.72 per cent after the firm posted an 8.1 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,307 crore for March quarter 2024-25, mainly on account of large deals with a total contract value of about Rs 25,500 crore.
Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Maruti were also among major gainers.
Banking shares witnessed a sell-off after recent sharp gains with leading private lender HDFC Bank dropping by 1.98 per cent to emerge as the biggest loser among Sensex shares.
Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ITC and UltraTech Cement were also among the laggards.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi index, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled in the positive territory. Shanghai SSE Composite ended marginally lower.
Markets in Europe were trading significantly higher.
US markets bounced back sharply on Tuesday. Nasdaq Composite surged 2.71 per cent, Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.66 per cent and S&P 500 rallied 2.51 per cent.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,290.43 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
"The Indian equity market sustained its positive momentum, driven by better outcome from the latest set of IT results and optimistic forward-looking comments. However, profit-booking was visible in financials after the recent sharp rally.
"While US-China trade tensions appear to be easing, a rally in US tech stocks has further bolstered overall global market sentiment," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.94 per cent and smallcap index went up by 0.26 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT surged 4.25 per cent, IT jumped 4 per cent, teck (3.10 per cent), auto (2.34 per cent), realty (1.37 per cent), consumer discretionary (1.02 per cent), healthcare (0.96 per cent) and industrials (0.84 per cent).
Financial Services, bankex and consumer durables were the laggards.
As many as 2,078 stocks advanced while 1,873 declined and 155 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.35 per cent to USD 68.35 a barrel.
The BSE benchmark climbed 187.09 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 79,595.59 on Tuesday. The Nifty went up by 41.70 points or 0.17 per cent to 24,167.25.
