BJP, Congress trade barbs as Rahul says economy is dead

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s claim on Thursday that mirrored US president Donald ‘Trump’ statement that the Indian economy is “dead “ triggered a war of words, with the ruling BJP, which said that the world recognised India’s achievements even as Gandhi tried to run it down.

- Saubhadra Chatterji and Smriti Kak Ramachandran

“Yes, he (Trump) is right, Everybody knows this except the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister. Everybody knows that the Indian economy is a dead economy. Iam glad that President Trump has stated a fact... The entire world knows that the Indian economy is a dead economy...” Gandhi told journalists outside Parliament. Later on, ina post on X., he listed his criteria for his view on the state of the Indian economy.

Trump's overnight comments were made in the context of India and Russia's bilateral trade. After imposing a 25% tariff on Indian exports to the US and an additional penalty for buying Russian oil, Trump said on Truth Social: “I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care...”. He also alleged that tariffs in India are “too high” and “among the highest in the world”.