New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday criticised the takeaways from Prime Minister Narender Modi’s participation at the G7 Summit in France’s Evian, alleging that he “failed” to stand up for India’s economic interests and energy sovereignty.
“The Indian National Congress (INC) had hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would leverage the G7 Summit in France as an opportunity to assert India’s leadership role in the Global South and stridently defend India’s energy sovereignty, economic interests and strategic autonomy. Instead, the Summit exposed a troubling gap between rhetoric and results,” Congress Foreign Affairs Department and former Union Minister Salman Khurshid said in a statement.
“In his meetings with (US President Donald) President Trump, and belying claims of a ‘close friendship’ with the President, PM Modi was unable either to defend India’s energy sovereignty by drawing a firm line with the President or to secure an OFAC sanctions waiver that would have allowed continued imports of Russian oil.”
“This is a missed opportunity and further compounds the BJP government’s repeated capitulation on matters of India’s energy sovereignty (first by ending purchases of discounted oil from Iran and Venezuela, and then by scaling back imports from Russia). As a result, Indians will continue to face the brunt of higher fuel and consumer prices.”
Khurshid also said that PM Modi “inexplicably stayed silent despite the President indirectly claiming that he engineered a ceasefire after Operation Sindoor”.
“Such silence can only be interpreted as either tacit acceptance of the President’s assertion or an unwillingness to publicly challenge it. It also erodes India’s long-standing foreign policy principle of not tolerating any third-party mediation in bilateral matters,” he said.
Furthermore, the US President’s public offer of “support” to PM Modi carries profound implications since it could either mean an offer to intervene in India’s domestic political affairs or a security commitment in the event of external aggression, he said.
Khurshid also raised questions on the government’s diplomacy. “It is also a matter of deep concern that PM Modi did nothing to redress India’s increasing geopolitical isolation (brought about by the BJP government’s myopic foreign policy) or counter Pakistan outmanoeuvring India in the evolving US-Iran ceasefire,” he said.
He said PM Modi also failed to secure favourable terms in the trade deal while India continues to face economic warfare.
“As the US President’s public proclamations of ‘friendship’ with PM Modi have been complemented with continuous anti-India actions and rhetoric, PM Modi must not prioritise his friendship with the US President over Indian interests…India’s interests must remain paramount, irrespective of who occupies the White House or South Block,” said Khurshid.
(IANS)
