Modi’s ‘capitulation certificate’: Congress on US saying it ‘permitted’ India to import Russian oil

The Congress on Wednesday described remarks by the United States that Washington had “temporarily permitted” India to accept Russian oil as a “capitulation certificate” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described India as a “good actor” that had previously stopped buying sanctioned Russian oil amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. She said that, as a short-term measure, the US had permitted India to accept Russian oil that was already on ships at sea.

“So as we work to appease this temporary gap of oil supply around the world because of the Iranians, we have temporarily permitted them to accept that Russian oil,” she said.

After the US Treasury Secretary, it is now the turn of President Trump's Press Secretary to give Mr. Modi a capitulation certificate.

According to her, the Modi Govt behaved well by agreeing to stop imports of oil from Russia, and as a reward it has now been allowed to do so… pic.twitter.com/njv5iSoJyf— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 11, 2026

The remarks by Leavitt prompted criticism from the Opposition.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the US statement suggested that the Modi government had “behaved well” by agreeing to stop imports of Russian oil and had been rewarded with permission to buy it for 30 days.

The Congress also criticised the US statement from its...

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