New Delhi: The Congress on Monday slammed the BJP government for paying Russia with Chinese Yuan and asked why the government was promoting and internationalising the Chinese currency against the Indian rupee by making payment to Russia for the crude oil.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh said: “The government had started making payment to Russia for the import of crude in Yuan instead of rupee.”
Expressing shock over the payment through the Chinese currency to Russian, Vallabh accused the government of ‘promoting the currency of a country which was responsible for the death of our 20 Indian soldiers in Galwan in May 2020’ and even injuries to several soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh in December 2022.
He also said that China had illegally occupied our land, had unilaterally changed the names of eleven villages and towns in Arunachal Pradesh and was preventing our troops from patrolling in 40 percent patrolling points.
The Congress leader asked what was the special relationship with China.
Vallabh also pointed out that in the last nine years Prime Minister Modi visited China five times and had met the Chinese leader Xi Jinping 18 times.
“Even Chinese companies had made huge donations to the PM Cares Fund,” he said, adding that even the Global Times, the official newspaper of the Chinese government had praised the Indian government for “accelerating the de-dollarisation” by paying Russia in Yuan for the oil India imports.
India is currently importing crude to the tune of Rs 89,000 crore from Russia against Rs 7,000 crores in 2021.
Vallabh further said that people were being told that the country was immensely benefitting by importing crude from Russia at cheap prices.
“But instead of passing on the benefit of the cheap prices to the end consumers in the country, the Indian government is promoting and internationalizing the Chinese currency, the Yuan,” he said.
He also pointed out this was despite the fact that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had allowed the payment of crude oil to Russia in Rupees after allowing the Indian and Russian banks to open “Vostro accounts”.
“But why all of a sudden the payment was being made in Yuan and not in Rupees?” he asked.
(IANS)
