New Delhi, March 11 – The Congress criticized the BJP-led government on Wednesday, stating that the US has "temporarily allowed" India to "accept" Russian oil, and that this was a "concession" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The opposition party's criticism came after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US has "temporarily permitted" India to "accept" Russian oil already on ships in the sea to ensure energy supplies amid the conflict with Iran, and that this measure will not provide significant financial benefit to Moscow.
Responding to Leavitt's remarks, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "After Treasury Secretary, it is now the turn of President Trump's press secretary to give Mr. Modi a concession."
According to Ramesh, the Modi government has acted responsibly by agreeing to stop importing oil from Russia, and as a reward, they have now been allowed to do so for 30 days. Ramesh shared a video clip of Leavitt's remarks on X.
The Congress also criticized the government over Leavitt's remarks on its official X account.
"White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says the United States has PERMITTED India to accept Russian oil and calls Indians GOOD ACTORS. Read that again. PERMITTED. GOOD ACTORS. Why is the Government of India not objecting to this blatant insult to our sovereignty and dignity?" the party asked.
They alleged that instead of defending India's honor, Prime Minister Modi chooses to remain silent.
"So the country must ask: What is he afraid of? Why are India's decisions being dictated from outside? Why is Narendra Modi being blackmailed by the United States? The people of India deserve answers. Because India's sovereignty is not negotiable," the Congress said.
In her remarks at a press conference, Leavitt said President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and the entire national security team "came to this decision because our allies in India have been good actors and have previously stopped buying sanctioned Russian oil."
"So as we work to appease this temporary gap in oil supply around the world because of the Iranians, we have temporarily permitted them (India) to accept that Russian oil. And this Russian oil was already at sea."
"It was already out on the water. So this short-term measure, we do not believe it will provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government at this time," she said.
Leavitt was responding to a question on the US issuing a 30-day waiver to India to purchase Russian oil in the backdrop of the escalating West Asia conflict.
Amid the conflict with Iran, the US said last week that it was issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil.
"President Trump's energy agenda has resulted in oil and gas production reaching the highest levels ever recorded. To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil," Bessent had said.
He had said this "deliberately short-term measure" will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, as it only authorises transactions involving oil already stranded at sea.
"India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of US oil. This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran's attempt to take global energy hostage," Bessent had said.
Trump had imposed 25 per cent punitive tariffs on India for buying Russian oil, with his administration asserting that New Delhi's purchases were helping fuel Russia's war machine against Ukraine.
Last month, the US and India announced that they have prepared a framework for an interim agreement on trade, and Trump issued an executive order removing the 25 per cent tariffs on New Delhi, noting the latter's commitment to stop directly or indirectly importing energy from Moscow and purchasing American energy products.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright had said in a post on X last Friday that the US is "allowing our friends in India" to take the Russian oil already on ships around southern Asia, refine it and move the stocks into the market quickly in order to ensure a flowing supply and ease pressure amid the ongoing US-Israel war against Iran.
"We have implemented short-term measures to help keep oil prices down. We are allowing our friends in India to take oil that is already on ships, refine it, and move those barrels into the market quickly. A practical way to get supply flowing and ease pressure," Wright had said.
In an interview with ABC News Live, Wright had said long-term oil supplies are "abundant" and there are no worries regarding that, but in the short term, there is a need to get oil on the market.
"But as oil gets bid up a little bit because of those constraints coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, we are taking a short-term action to say all this floating Russian oil storage that is around southern Asia, it is China just backed up, China does not treat their suppliers well, so there is a bunch of floating barrels just sitting there.
We have reached out to our friends in India and said, 'Buy that oil. Bring it into your refineries'. That pulls stored oil immediately into Indian refineries and releases the pressure on other refineries around the world to buy oil that they are no longer competing with the Indians for in that marketplace," Wright had said.
"So we have a number of measures like that that are short-term and temporary. This is no change in policy towards Russia. This is a very brief change in policy just to keep oil prices down a little bit better than we could otherwise," he added.