Rahul Gandhi claims PM Modi can’t stand up to Trump despite ‘repeated threats’ due to U.S. probe into Adani

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump despite his repeated threats due to “the ongoing U.S. investigation into Adani,” Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday (August 6, 2025).

The Congress leader’s comment came a day after President Trump had threatened to raise the tariffs on New Delhi “very substantially” over the next 24 hours because it is buying Russian oil and claimed that India has not been a good trading partner.

“India, please understand: The reason PM Modi cannot stand up to President Trump despite his repeated threats is the ongoing U.S. investigation into Adani. One threat is to expose the financial links between Modi, AA, and Russian oil deals. Modi’s hands are tied,”Mr. Gandhi alleged in a post on X without elaborating his charges.

There was no immediate reaction from the government or the Adani Group on Mr. Gandhi’s allegations.

However, business tycoon Gautam Adani, and seven other defendants including his nephew Sagar, who is director at the group’s renewable energy unit Adani Green Energy Ltd, have been accused of paying about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between 2020 and 2024 to secure lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court in November last year.

The Adani group had denied the allegations and maintained it is “steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations”.

Earlier this week, President Trump said he would substantially raise U.S. tariffs on India, accusing the country of buying massive amounts of Russian oil and selling it in open markets for big profits.

Hours later, India had mounted an unusually sharp counterattack on the U.S. and the European Union for their “unjustified and unreasonable” targeting of New Delhi for its procurement of Russian crude oil.