Congress leaders show Rahul Gandhi a mirror after LoP backs Trump's 'Indian economy is dead' remark

Training his guns on India and its all-weather friend Russia, Trump posted on Truth Social, "I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World.

"Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!"

Weaponsing Trump's statement, Rahul, the de facto top leader of the opposition party, took a jibe at the Modi government.

"Yes, 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," the Rae Bareli MP told the reporters in the Parliament premises.

Slamming the US administration, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor posted on X, "It is a challenging negotiation. We are negotiating with many countries. The US is not the only negotiation. We have ongoing negotiations with the EU, we already concluded a deal with the UK, and we are talking with other countries also. If we can't compete in America, we may have to diversify our markets outside of America. We are not out of options.

"If America is completely unreasonable with its demands, we have to move elsewhere. That is the strength of India; we are not a totally export-dependent economy like China. We have a good and strong domestic market. We must give strong support to our negotiators to find the best deal possible. If a good deal is not possible, we may have to walk away..."

Congress MP Rajeev Shukla said, "What Donald Trump said is absolutely wrong. India's economy is not dead. India under PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh had introduced economic reforms which were later advanced by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh (as the PM) and the current government.

"Our economic situation is not at all weak. If someone claims to decimate our economy, it's his misunderstanding. Trump is living in delusion."

Contradicting Rahul, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote on X, "Not that one needs to say it there’s enough legitimate data available to know that the 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!"

Trump announces tariffs on Indian imports

Trump on Wednesday announced a 25 percent tariff on imports from India and an added penalty starting on August 1.

The President wrote on Truth Social, "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!"

Later in the day when he was asked about whether he was still open to a deal with India, the President told reporters, "We are talking to them now. We will see what happens. India was the highest or just about the highest-tariff nation in the world...We will see. We are negotiating with India right now."