Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi hit out at US President Donald Trump's "arrogance" after he called the Indian economy, which is among the top five economies of the world, "dead".
Hours after Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on India, and an unspecified penalty over the country's purchases from Russia, the US President said, "I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care."
He noted that the US has done very little business with India and described the country's tariffs "among the highest in the world".
The Sena UBT MP said that such remarks can come only from a place of arrogance or ignorance.
In a post on X, Chaturvedi said, Not that one needs to say it there's enough legitimate data available to know that Indian economy is in the top 5 of the world and one of the fastest growing economies. Calling it a dead economy can only come from a position of arrogance or ignorance. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
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Trump's infuriation over ties with Russia is in connection with the ongoing war in Ukraine.
{{/usCountry}}Trump's infuriation over ties with Russia is in connection with the ongoing war in Ukraine.
{{/usCountry}}In his statement announcing the 25 per cent tariff on India, the US President wrote, "Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country."
"Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST FIRST. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. MAGA!" he added in his Truth Social post.
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However, Chaturvedi's INDIA bloc ally, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, backed Trump's "dead economy" remark.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said that everyone except Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman knows that the Indian economy is "dead", accusing the BJP-led central government of destroying the nation's economic, foreign and defence policies.
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Speaking to reporters in the Parliament complex, Rahul Gandhi also claimed that India's trade deal with the US will happen and that Trump will define it. Meanwhile, he said, PM Modi will do what the US President tells him to do.
When asked about Trump calling the Indian economy "dead", Gandhi said, "He is right. Everybody knows this except the prime minister and the finance minister. Everybody knows that the Indian economy is a dead economy. I am glad that President Trump has stated a fact."