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ISLAMABAD: The president of India&#39;s main opposition party said Monday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s government withheld fuel and commodity price increases until state assembly elections concluded, as back-to-back hikes in petrol and compressed natural gas prices make the lives of average Indians increasingly difficult. <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/opposition-leader-terms-modis-address-travesty-of-democracy-indian-constitution" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mallikarjun Kharge</a>, the President of the Indian National Congress party and Leader of the Opposition in the Indian parliament&#39;s upper house, said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had concealed the state of the economy from voters ahead of the polls.&nbsp; &quot;The Modi government kept everything hidden from the country until the elections, but once the elections were over, prices of everything increased,&quot; Kharge said in a post on X. State-run fuel retailers raised petrol and diesel prices by ₹3 per liter on Friday, citing surging global crude costs driven by the ongoing war in the Middle East. A second hike in compressed natural gas prices followed on Sunday, the second such increase in a single week, according to the Press Trust of India. &quot;If Modi had raised the prices of petrol, diesel, and other commodities before the elections, he would have suffered significant losses,&quot; Kharge said. &quot;The BJP government and Modi lack foresight.&quot; India imports over 80% of its crude oil, leaving it heavily exposed to supply disruptions in the Middle East. Wholesale inflation rose to 8.3%, a three-and-a-half-year high. It was driven by imported oil and metals costs. Meanwhile, retail inflation climbed to 3.4% in March, up from 3.2% in February, according to Consumer Price Index data. The Reserve Bank of India projected average retail inflation at 4.6% for the current fiscal year, above its 4% target. The IMF put the figure higher, forecasting consumer prices to rise 4.7% in 2026. Economic growth has slowed. The World Bank&#39;s April 2026 India Development Update cut its GDP growth forecast to 6.6% for FY27, down from an earlier projection of 7.2%, citing high energy prices and supply chain disruptions tied to the Middle East conflict. The IMF revised its own 2026 growth forecast to 6.5%. Cooking gas prices on the black market, the only source accessible to millions of domestic migrant workers without formal documentation, increased up to five times their pre-crisis levels, from ₹80 ($0.83) to ₹90 ($0.93) per kilogram to as high as ₹500 ($5.19), according to AFP. India has more than 450 million internal migrants, per government estimates, many of whom told AFP they were preparing to leave cities and return to their home states. &quot;Inflation is continuously rising due to the BJP government,&quot; Kharge said. &quot;The poor in the country are not even able to get the essential goods they deserve.&quot;

Mallikarjun Kharge, President of the Indian National Congress, criticized the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over rising fuel and commodity prices, saying increases were delayed until after elections and citing concerns about the economic 

India

Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge says the ruling party concealed economic pressures before state polls; 'once the elections were over, prices of everything increased.'

Indian opposition says Modi govt delayed fuel price hikes until after elections

ISLAMABAD: Last week, a state government in southern India quietly lifted a ban that had spent four years doing what its architects intended: keeping Muslim girls out of school. The ban was on the hijab. It was imposed in 2022 in Karnataka, a state of 67 million people, by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP is India&#39;s governing Hindu nationalist party, in power nationally since 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It lost Karnataka in 2023 state elections. The party that replaced it, the Indian National Congress, revoked the ban on May 13. Schools may now permit headscarves, Sikh turbans, and Hindu sacred threads alongside uniforms, as reported by The Hindu. The mechanics of the original ban reveal how deliberately it was constructed. In late 2021, Muslim women students at a government college were suddenly barred from classrooms for wearing headscarves. The practice had been accepted for years without incident, per the IIUM Law Journal. Groups of Hindu nationalist students then showed up in saffron-colored scarves. Saffron is the symbolic color of BJP-aligned nationalism in India. The government did not act against those students, it acted against the Muslim girls. The order it issued described the headscarf as a threat to &quot;equality and public order,&quot; as reported by Muslim News UK. Legal scholars writing in the International Journal of Law in Context called it what it was: indirect discrimination, dressed in the language of neutral policy. The girls paid the price. Many were turned away from national board examinations. Many lost full academic years. The People&#39;s Union for Civil Liberties, an Indian civil rights organization, documented the damage in detail. Then came February 10, 2022, and a moment that traveled around the world. A 19-year-old student named Muskan Khan arrived at her college to submit an assignment. A crowd of men in saffron scarves surrounded her. They followed her across campus, chanting political slogans. She did not run. She turned and chanted back, alone, until staff pulled her to safety, per the Times of India. CNN called her &quot;a symbol of resistance.&quot; Within days, fabricated social media posts were circulating that falsely linked her to the Taliban, according to fact-checkers at The Quint. The message to Muslim women was clear: visibility itself is a provocation. That message has been delivered consistently. Amnesty International documented the headscarf ban as one piece of a larger campaign against India&#39;s roughly 200 million Muslims under BJP governance, alongside the demolition of Muslim-owned homes, laws criminalizing marriages between Muslims and Hindus, and organized boycotts of Muslim market traders, per Amnesty&#39;s Human Rights Charter for India. United Nations human rights experts formally warned India in June 2022 that the ban violated its obligations under international law, per an OHCHR communication. India&#39;s Supreme Court took up the case and split without a resolution in October 2022, per MUNA Bulletin. The constitutional question remains open. The Congress party reversed the ban. It also banned saffron scarves from classrooms, calling them tools of intimidation rather than religious expression, per the Times of India. The BJP called this &ldquo;Muslim appeasement&rdquo;. A federal minister claimed, without evidence, that the decision would lead to &lsquo;Islamic law&rsquo; in Karnataka, as reported by Hindustan Times. Human Rights Watch had already described BJP policies of this kind as systematic discrimination against religious minorities, in a formal submission to the United Nations. The headscarf ban is over in Karnataka. The political infrastructure that built it remains intact nationally. For Muslim women in India, the battleground may have shifted, but it certainly has not disappeared.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and religious activists protest near the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh office in Kolkata on December 22, 2025  (AFP)

India's Hindu nationalist government has spent years using Muslim women's clothing, marriages, and livelihoods as instruments of political exclusion, drawing repeated condemnation from the United Nations and global rights organizations.

Indian Congress overturns discriminatory hijab ban imposed by Modi-led BJP previously

ISLAMABAD: India held state elections this week in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, two of its most politically consequential states. Both contests were shadowed by allegations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s federal government used its institutional power to tilt the outcome: through a televised address that opponents say broke campaign law, the mass deletion of voters from electoral rolls in West Bengal, and the forced removal of senior state officials by an election body critics say is no longer neutral. Five days before polls opened, Modi addressed the nation on Doordarshan and Sansad TV &ndash; &nbsp;India&#39;s state-owned broadcaster and parliament channel, both funded by the federal government. The address aired while the Model Code of Conduct was in effect. That code is a constitutionally recognized set of rules that bars incumbents from using government resources or platforms for political purposes once an election is called. Communist Party of India MP P. Sandosh Kumar filed a formal complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner, arguing the broadcast was &quot;political in nature&quot; and contained &quot;partisan assertions&quot; designed to sway voters, according to The Hindu. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called it an &quot;illegal campaign,&quot; as reported. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin warned that BJP campaign visits to his state were accompanied by the &quot;denial of funds&quot; for essential development, a reference to a persistent grievance among India&#39;s opposition-governed states that New Delhi withholds centrally allocated budgets as political leverage. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut separately stated the BJP was using government funds to bus specific voter groups to polling stations, according to The Hindu. Tamil Nadu: Fund denial, election coupons In Tamil Nadu, where the incumbent Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party faces a BJP-backed opposition alliance, the interference allegations ran alongside a separate financial scandal. The Madras High Court began hearing cases on April 16 against candidates from both major alliances over the alleged distribution of coupons worth between ₹8,000 ($84.86) and ₹10,000 ($106), redeemable at designated commercial outlets. Prosecutors say this method was designed to evade cash-seizure checks. By April 22, federal authorities had seized more than ₹1,000 crore (approximately $106 million) in cash, liquor, and inducements across both Tamil Nadu and West Bengal combined, according to The Hindu. West Bengal: Voter deletions In West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) &mdash; a regional party that has governed the state since 2011&ndash; faces its toughest election yet against Modi&#39;s BJP. The central controversy before votes were cast was the deletion of roughly 12% of the state&#39;s total registered voters from the electoral rolls. The Election Commission of India, the country&#39;s constitutionally &lsquo;independent&rsquo; elections body, carried out the revision. Of the voters removed, 34% were Muslim, according to the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. This is well above the community&#39;s 27% share of the state&#39;s population. The TMC called the deletions a &quot;deliberate design&quot; to target its core supporters, per The Hindu. The BJP said the exercise was necessary to remove undocumented Bangladeshi migrants who had obtained fraudulent Indian identity documents through &quot;TMC-backed syndicates&quot;. India&#39;s Supreme Court ordered on April 17 that voters cleared by appellate tribunals before April 21 must be allowed to vote. Only 139 people were cleared in time for Phase I, as reported by local news outlets. Officials removed, forces deployed After the election was announced, the Election Commission transferred West Bengal&#39;s Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Director General of Police, and Kolkata&#39;s top police officer along with 19 senior district police officers. This effectively removed the four most powerful state administrators from their positions. While the ECI has legal authority to transfer officials during elections, Banerjee called the moves &quot;political interference of the highest order&quot; and &quot;an assault on the Constitution,&quot; as reported by local media outlets, The West Bank CM stated the commission was &quot;campaigning for the BJP.&quot; Senior constitutional lawyer Kapil Sibal also said the commissioner&#39;s &quot;vocation&quot; appeared to be ensuring a BJP victory, as reported by The Hindu. On April 21, the TMC stated that federal paramilitary troops (deployed under ECI orders and operating outside state government control) used &quot;disproportionate criminal force&quot; against residents in Nandigram, the home constituency of BJP&#39;s state opposition leader. The ECI denied the claim. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms, 23% of West Bengal&#39;s candidates had declared criminal cases, and constituencies where multiple candidates carry criminal records rose 17% from the previous election. Tamil Nadu voted April 23. West Bengal&#39;s second phase is April 29. Results are due May 4.

Voters queue up to cast their votes outside a polling station during the West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections in Berhampore, Murshidabad district, on April 23, 2026. (AFP)

India’s elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal face allegations of interference, voter deletions and campaign violations, with government, parties and election officials trading accusations.

Modi broadcast, purged voter rolls shadow India's state elections

ISLAMABAD: In a sharp political reaction, Indian Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misusing an official national address for partisan attacks, calling it &ldquo;a travesty of Democracy and the Constitution of India.&rdquo; In a strongly worded statement shared on X on Saturday, Kharge alleged that the prime minister&rsquo;s speech&nbsp;disproportionately criticized the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/rahul-gandhi-modi-compromised-by-epstein-files-sold-india-out" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Congress</a> while neglecting key issues such as women&rsquo;s representation,&nbsp;and claimed it violated the Model Code of Conduct already in force.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 2;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2045543427056836836&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fdashboard%2F&sessionId=322607743007a53857a0c77384a7dda48fb42d1e&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 345px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div> &ldquo;A desperate and frustrated PM&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/bjp-accused-of-reshaping-indias-political-system-to-retain-power" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">@narendramodi</a>&nbsp;with nothing meaningful to show for the last 12 years, turned an official address to the nation, into a political speech, full of mudslinging, and outright LIES.&rdquo;&nbsp;&lsquo;Travesty of Democracy&rsquo;&nbsp;The Congress president, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said, &ldquo;The Model Code of Conduct is already in place and it was very clear how PM Modi misused official machinery to attack his opponents. This is a travesty of Democracy and the Constitution of India.&rdquo; Criticizing the Indian prime minister, he said, &ldquo;Modi ji mentioned Congress 59 times and women barely few times. That tells the country everything about his priorities. Women are not the BJP&rsquo;s priority. Congress is, because Congress stands on the right side of history.&rdquo; Taking the prime minister to task for the ruling BJP&rsquo;s poor record on women&#39;s rights, the opposition leader said, &ldquo;Congress has always supported women&rsquo;s reservation. We were the party that passed the Women&rsquo;s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 so that it would not lapse. The BJP could not get that Bill passed in the Lok Sabha. They brought another Bill in 2023 and the Congress Party supported that too. That Bill still exists. In fact, it was notified on 16th April, while the Lok Sabha was discussing these delimitation Constitutional Amendment Bills. This was done by the same Prime Minister. The fact that it took the BJP 3 years to notify their own bill, shows their commitment to India&rsquo;s Naari Shakti!&rdquo;&nbsp;&lsquo;STOP lying to the nation&rsquo;He said, &ldquo;Modi ji should STOP lying to the nation.&rdquo; The opposition leader demanded that Modi &ldquo;implement 33% reservation for women in the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats under the 2023 law.&rdquo; &ldquo;Stop mixing up the delimitation bills, i.e, the 3 Constitution Amendment Bills &nbsp;with the Women&rsquo;s Reservation Bill. Stop lying to the nation that this was an amendment to the Women&rsquo;s Reservation Bill &mdash; the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. It was NOT. This was purely a delimitation Bill, brought in to create further division and redraw the electoral map in a manner that can only benefit the BJP,&rdquo; Kharge demanded.&nbsp;&lsquo;Apologise to 140 Crore Indians&rsquo;&nbsp;Kharge&nbsp;demanded PM Modi to &ldquo;Apologise to 140 Crore Indians.&rdquo; &ldquo;Congress has always been pro-reform. Congress transformed Indian agriculture through the Green Revolution, strengthened dairy development through the White Revolution, created our Space sector, made India a Nuclear power, Liberalised the economy in 1991, 60 Crore ADHAAR cards were distributed before Modi ji took office. Congress passed RTI, RTE, Food Security Act, MGNREGA - which Modi ji repealed,&rdquo; he lamented.&nbsp;Garlanding rapists &nbsp;The Congress president said, &ldquo;The BJP has been anti-women in both action and attitude. They have no answers for Hathras. They have no answers for Unnao. They have no answers for the treatment of Haryana&rsquo;s women wrestlers. They have shielded rapists within their own party. They released the rapists in the Bilkis Bano case.&rdquo; &ldquo;They have garlanded criminals and rapists. The NCRB data itself shows that crimes against women are highest in BJP-ruled states,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;&lsquo;Nothing to offer&rsquo;&nbsp;Kharge said, &ldquo;After 12 and a half years in power, in the middle of an international crisis, high inflation, a deteriorating economy, sliding Rupee, and deep public distress, the Prime Minister had nothing to offer the nation except a political speech.&rdquo; &ldquo;Even with the Model Code of Conduct in place, he chose to blame the Opposition, especially Congress, for his own failures, his own betrayal, and his own apathy.&rdquo; The opposition leader accused the Indian prime minister of dividing the nation. &ldquo;BJP-RSS divides the nation. RSS supported the British against Indians and wrote mercy petitions to them. Every Indian knows that Modi Jis political masters &mdash; RSS are against WOMEN. They believe in Manusmiti, which encourages DIVISION, and NOT the Constitution of India,&rdquo; he said in his social media post.

Says, ‘a desperate and frustrated PM @narendramodi with nothing meaningful to show for the last 12 years, turned an official address to the nation, into a political speech, full of mudslinging, and outright LIES.’

Opposition leader terms Modi’s address 'travesty of democracy, Indian Constitution' 

NEW DELHI: India has blocked the release of &quot;The Voice of Hind Rajab&quot;, a film about the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl by Israeli forces, the movie&#39;s distributor told AFP on Saturday. The Oscar-nominated docudrama by French-Tunisian director Kaouther <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/who-is-behind-the-voice-of-hind-rajab" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ben Hania</a> recounts the real-life death of Hind Rajab in Gaza last year as her family attempted to flee during Israel&#39;s war on Gaza. Manoj Nandwana of Jai Viratra Entertainment, the film&#39;s Indian distributor, said a member of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) told him that the film&#39;s theatrical release would &quot;hamper India&#39;s relations with Israel&quot;. &lsquo;It&#39;s strange&rsquo;&quot;After screening it for the board it was clear to me that they would not clear it for release in India,&quot; Nandwana told AFP on Saturday, adding that he was not officially notified of the denial. &quot;The film has been released all over the world including in Israel. Why is it bad or sensitive for Indians?&quot; Nandwana asked. &quot;It&#39;s strange.&quot; The film was, however, screened at an international film festival in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata in November last year, Nandwana said. New Delhi has expanded ties with Israel in defense, agriculture, technology and cybersecurity while balancing diplomatic interests in the Middle East and historically supporting Palestinian statehood. Over two decades&nbsp;Last month, <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/indias-modi-heads-to-israel-to-strengthen-cooperation" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Prime Minister Narendra Modi</a> visited Israel for two days -- the first trip by an Indian premier in over two decades -- just days before Israel and the United States began a campaign of airstrikes on Iran. Parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor from the opposition Congress party said blocking the film was &quot;disgraceful&quot;. &quot;In a democracy, screening a film is a reflection of our society&#39;s freedom of expression and has nothing to do with government to government relations,&quot; he said in a post on X. &quot;This practice of banning films or books because of the offence they might cause to foreign countries must stop immediately. It&#39;s unworthy of a mature democracy.&quot; Silver Lion grand jury prize&quot;The Voice of Hind Rajab&quot; was nominated for Best International Feature at this year&#39;s Oscars but lost to the Norwegian family drama &quot;Sentimental Value&quot;. Last year, the film won the Silver Lion grand jury prize at the Venice Film Festival where it left audiences in tears at its premiere.&nbsp;

Parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor terms blocking the film ‘disgraceful’; last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel for two days -- the first trip by an Indian premier in over two decades.

India blocks release of Oscar-nominated Gaza film 

NEW DELHI:&nbsp;India and Brazil signed an agreement on critical minerals and rare earths on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after talks in New Delhi with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The agreement &quot;is a major step towards building resilient supply chains&quot;, Modi said. Brazil has the world&#39;s second-largest reserves of these elements, which are used in everything from electric vehicles, solar panels, and smartphones to jet engines and guided missiles. India, seeking to cut its dependence on top exporter China, has been expanding domestic production and recycling while scouting for new suppliers. Lula, heading a delegation of more than a dozen ministers as well as business leaders, arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday for a global summit. Officials have said that in talks with Modi on Saturday, the two leaders are expected to sign a memorandum on critical minerals and discuss efforts to increase trade links. The world&#39;s most populous nation is already the 10th largest market for Brazilian exports, with bilateral trade topping $15 billion in 2025. The two countries have set a trade target of $20 billion to be achieved by 2030. With China holding a near-monopoly on rare earth production, some countries are seeking alternative sources. Rishabh Jain, an expert with the Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water think tank, said India&#39;s growing cooperation with Brazil on critical minerals complements recent supply chain engagements with the United States, France, and the European Union. While these partnerships grant India access to advanced technologies, finance, and high-end processing capabilities, &quot;Global South alliances are critical for securing diversified, on-ground resource access and shaping emerging rules of global trade,&quot; Jain told AFP. &#39;Challenges&#39;India and Brazil were hit by US tariffs in 2025, prompting the two leaders to call for stronger cooperation. Washington has since pledged to roll back duties on Indian goods under a trade deal announced earlier this month. &quot;Lula and Modi will have the opportunity to exchange views on... the challenges to multilateralism and international trade,&quot; said Brazilian diplomat Susan Kleebank, the secretary for Asia and the Pacific. Brazil is India&#39;s biggest partner in Latin America. Key Brazilian exports to India include sugar, crude oil, vegetable oils, cotton, and iron ore. Demand for iron ore has been driven by rapid infrastructure expansion and industrial growth in India, which is on track to become the world&#39;s fourth-largest economy. Brazilian firms are also expanding in the country, with Embraer and Adani Group announcing plans last month to build aircraft in India. Lula addressed the AI Impact Summit in Delhi on Thursday, calling for a multilateral and inclusive global governance framework for artificial intelligence. He will travel on to South Korea for meetings with President Lee Jae Myung and to attend a business forum.&nbsp;

Asia

Americas

India and Brazil sign a critical minerals and rare earths agreement during talks between Narendra Modi and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in New Delhi, aiming to diversify supply chains, boost bilateral trade from $15 billion toward $20 billion by 2030, and reduce reliance on China.

India, Brazil sign agreement on critical minerals: Modi

ISLAMABAD: India&rsquo;s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has stepped up his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the US Supreme Court struck down global tariffs imposed by former US President Donald Trump, triggering a fresh political row over India&rsquo;s interim trade understanding with Washington.&nbsp;In a post on X, Gandhi accused the prime minister of compromising India&rsquo;s national interest. &ldquo;PM Modi&rsquo;s betrayal now stands exposed,&rdquo; he wrote, adding that the premier &ldquo;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/congress-criticizes-modi-over-us-tariff-conditionality-on-russian-oil" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">can&rsquo;t renegotiate</a>&rdquo; and would &ldquo;surrender again.&rdquo;<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 320px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2025074652406841686&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=ceba81b994fe79e6c41b6814b5f454752c7bc856&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px"></iframe></div></div>The remarks followed a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-vows-10-global-tariff-after-stinging-court-rebuke" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">6-3 ruling by the US Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;that the Trump administration had exceeded its authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 to impose sweeping import tariffs.&nbsp;The court held that the law did not permit such broad trade measures.&nbsp;Reacting to the verdict, Trump called it a &ldquo;terrible decision&rdquo; and announced plans to introduce a 10%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/indian-garment-exporters-reel-under-us-tariffs" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">global tariff</a>&nbsp;under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows temporary import surcharges of up to 15% for 150 days to address balance-of-payments issues. The controversy has sparked sharp reactions from India&rsquo;s opposition. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge questioned why the Modi government had moved ahead with what he described as a &ldquo;trap deal&rdquo; before the US court&rsquo;s ruling.<iframe id="twitter-widget-2" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 392px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2025088486391644220&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=ceba81b994fe79e6c41b6814b5f454752c7bc856&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px"></iframe><div class="fr-embed"> </div>He alleged that the joint trade statement included major concessions, including zero tariffs on several American exports and large-scale imports of US goods. Congress leader Dr Shama Mohamed also cited remarks attributed to Trump, quoting him as saying: &ldquo;We made a deal with India, it&rsquo;s a fair deal now, we are not paying tariffs and they are paying tariffs.&rdquo;<div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 665px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2025065394600579308&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=ceba81b994fe79e6c41b6814b5f454752c7bc856&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px"></iframe></div>In her post on X, she echoed Gandhi&rsquo;s criticism, alleging that the deal benefits the United States at India&rsquo;s expense.&nbsp;She also questioned whether the government was aware of the pending case before the US Supreme Court and suggested that the agreement may have been concluded under pressure.&nbsp;The Modi government has yet to issue a response to the opposition&rsquo;s latest allegations.

Rahul Gandhi accuses the prime minister of compromising India’s national interest; says Modi 'can’t renegotiate' and will 'surrender again.'

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