New Delhi, March 11 – Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that the country is facing difficult times due to a severe shortage of LPG, which will only worsen with the deepening crisis in West Asia, and blamed the Narendra Modi government's "weak and subservient" foreign policy.
Addressing a press conference in the capital, Kejriwal claimed that the nation's LPG production has decreased by about 50 per cent, and its effects are primarily visible in the commercial sector, as many restaurants are closing down.
Holding the government responsible for the LPG crisis, he said that if the Modi government had maintained India's long-standing policy of non-alignment and not leaned towards the US and Israel in this West Asian conflict, this could have been avoided. He pointed out that despite the major blockade, oil tankers from Iran's friendly nations are still passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
"60 per cent of the country's LPG reserves are imported from abroad, and 90 per cent of this comes through the Strait of Hormuz, which remains under the control of Iranian forces," he claimed.
Kejriwal further said that the restaurant and hotel industry is primarily bearing the brunt, and thousands of businesses are on the verge of closure, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
The former Delhi Chief Minister also accused the government of bowing to American pressure, abandoning India's own interests, and failing to demonstrate the country's resolve in its foreign policy.
He claimed that many ordinary officials of the Donald Trump administration are making objectionable and reprehensible statements against the Indian government and Prime Minister without restraint, and that the country of 140 crore people is feeling embarrassed about it.
Claiming that the Modi government has been following the Trump administration's diktats, he said that India reduced tariffs on cotton and stopped buying Russian oil at the behest of the US President, and this has severely impacted the country, both financially and in terms of job losses.
He said that the "weak" Prime Minister is being blackmailed by the Trump administration, and the 140 crore Indians are furious about this "capitulation".
"India should not be made to bow before the US. India's foreign policy should be centered around its people and not be influenced by foreign pressures," he demanded.