Supriya Shrinate@SupriyaShrinate
Last night, the statement from Ministry of Foreign Affairs was being lauded as a ‘befitting’ reply to America.
Is it really a strong rebuttal?
▪️ This 259-word statement is not from the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister but from the Ministry’s spokesperson.
▪️ Why can’t we say it firmly – we will prioritize our interests. Why is the Prime Minister so scared?
▪️ When Mr Modi was hugging Mr Trump - all credit was being given to the Prime Minister. But now, when Trump is consistently berating India - this govt and the BJP are hiding behind a Ministry spokesperson!
▪️ America has been publicly rebuking us, insulting us, threatening us on a daily basis - but why are we so hesitant? Why did we need to club European Union to counter the insult from the US?
▪️ 87 words were said about the EU’s bilateral trade with Russia, services, LNG imports, fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron-steel, machinery, and transport equipment.
▪️ 28 words about America’s imports from Russia - palladium for its electric vehicle sector, uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear sector, fertilizers, and chemicals.
▪️ We should do what’s in our national interest. Buying cheap oil from Russia is in our interest, so we don’t need anyone’s advice on this.
👉👉 But this merits one important question – if the government saved about 27 billion dollars, which is over 2.37 lakh crore rupees, by buying cheap oil from Russia, why didn’t the common people benefit? Why weren’t petrol and diesel prices reduced?
👉👉 This profiteering at the expense of common Indians is totally unjustified.