Modi should strongly oppose U.S. imposing 50% tariff, says Chief Minister Stalin

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said in Chennai on Tuesday that the BJP-led Union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should strongly oppose the U.S. imposing 50% tariff on Indian imports and both should be open about their position. He was speaking at an event organised jointly by the National Committee of Solidarity with Cuba in India and the CPI(M).

When five rounds of trade negotiations between India and the U.S. were completed and a date was being finalised for the sixth round, “Why should U.S. President [Donald] Trump arbitrarily announce the imposing of additional tariff?”, Mr. Stalin asked. Referring to the repeated claims of Mr. Trump that he was behind the ceasefire between India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, Mr. Stalin said: “When the Opposition parties raised queries over that in both Houses of Parliament, Prime Minister Modi did not answer at all. It symbolises his weakness.”

Observing that there was a crisis across the world, where there is a need to crush imperialism, Mr. Stalin said imperialist conspiracies did not mean only wars. “The U.S. imposing 50% tariff on imports from India is also one such conspiracy,” he asserted. “The BJP-led Union government should strongly oppose this. The Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should provide a transparent reply to this,” Mr. Stalin said.

Takes a dig at EPS

Talking about the politics in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Stalin said AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami had developed a new found love for the Communists in recent days. Contending that people spoke about random topics, Mr. Stalin asked whether Mr. Palaniswami could speak about “slavery”.

“I want to tell him that none is a slave to nobody. Everyone is wondering if Mr. Palaniswami reads newspapers. Even so, you would surely not read Theekkathir [considered a mouthpiece of the CPI(M)]. If you had read it, you would not be speaking like this. I read Theekkathir every day,” he said.

Mr. Stalin said he listened to what Communist leaders spoke whenever he had time. “They have not stopped flagging issues just because we are in an alliance, and I have not ignored the issues that they have highlighted. Because, half of us are communists. After all, my name is Stalin,” he asserted.

Mr. Stalin added: “We know how to distinguish pointing out with a friendly demeanour from deliberate defamation with ulterior motives. Even this stage symbolises our ideological clarity and friendship.”

Minister P.K. Sekarbabu, Cuban Ambassador to India Juan Carlos Marsán Aguilera, CPI(M) leaders M.A. Baby, K. Balakrishnan, U. Vasuki, and P. Shanmugam, CPI State secretary R. Mutharasan, Director of The Hindu Publishing Group N. Ram, former MP T.K. Rangarajan, National Committee of Solidarity with Cuba’s State secretary A. Arumuga Nainar were present.