The Congress party on Saturday, October 16, took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the latter becomes a ‘mauni baba’, each time US President Donald Trump makes claims of stopping Operation Sindoor or that India has decided to reduce oil imports from Russia.
The remark was made by Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh after Trump yet again reiterated that his ‘good friend’ Modi has assured him that India will not import Russian oil.
“But that good friend suddenly becomes a Mauni Baba whenever President Trump says he stopped Operation Sindoor and now when he says that India will reduce its imports of oil from Russia,” Ramesh said in a post on X, taking a dig at PM Modi.
Meanwhile, India’s trade deficit with China during April-Sep 2025 increased to USD 54.4 billion as compared to USD 49.6 billion in the same period last year, the Congress leader said.
His remarks come hours after the US president repeated his claims that India will not be buying oil from Russia, saying that the country has already “de-escalated” and is “pulling back”.
This is the second time that Trump has made such claims.
India on Thursday said it is “broad-basing and diversifying” its sourcing of energy to meet market conditions, hours after Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured him that New Delhi will stop procuring Russian crude oil.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, responding to Trump’s remarks, said it has been New Delhi’s consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario.
He said India’s import policies are guided entirely by national interest, adding India has been looking at expanding energy ties with the US as well.
The Congress on Thursday alleged that Modi is “frightened” of Trump and appears to have outsourced key decisions to America.
The opposition party had also alleged that the foreign policy of the Modi government has “completely collapsed” and said the Centre must take opposition leaders into confidence by either calling an all-party meeting or speaking to them one-on-one.
Washington has been maintaining that India is helping Putin finance the war through its purchase of Russian crude oil.
The relations between New Delhi and Washington have been reeling under severe stress after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duty for India’s purchase of Russian crude oil.
India described the US action as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.