New York: An American Jewish advocacy group has slammed US officials for criticising India for its purchase of Russian oil, asserting that New Delhi is “not responsible” for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and called for a “reset” of US-India ties.
Trump administration members have lately upped their criticism of India for buying energy from Moscow, saying this is “funding” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “war machine” in the Ukraine conflict.
The remarks by the American Jewish Committee on Friday came after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro called the conflict “Modi’s war” and said that the “road to peace” runs partly “right through New Delhi”.
In a social media post, the Jewish advocacy group said it was “mystified and deeply troubled by the chorus of attacks on India by US officials”, and called Navarro’s remarks a “scurrilous charge”.
“We regret energy-hungry India’s reliance on Russian oil — but India isn’t responsible for Putin’s war crimes, is a sister democracy and an increasingly important strategic partner of the United States, and has a crucial role to play in Great Power competition,” it said.
“It’s time to reset this vital relationship,” it added.
Navarro, the Trump administration’s Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing, has been consistently targeting India over the last few days following a major downturn of ties between Washington and New Delhi over President Donald Trump’s policies on trade and tariffs.
Trump has imposed 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India and an additional 25 per cent for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.
India has termed the tariffs imposed on it as “unjustified and unreasonable. “Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” India has said.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that most of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs are unlawful.
Following this, the Democrats House Foreign Affairs Committee called Speaker Mike Johnson to put on the floor US Representative Gregory Meeks’ resolution to terminate Trump’s ‘national emergency’ declaration, which he used to impose the massive tariffs.
Quoting Meeks in a social media post, it also called for the Speaker to “stop covering for Trump’s lawlessness”.
Earlier this week, the committee slammed Trump for “singling out” India for its purchases of Russian oil and for not imposing sanctions on the bigger buyer China, saying the tariffs imposed on Delhi are sabotaging the bilateral relationship.
PTI
