India, once a widely respected democracy across the globe, has been belittled by US President Donald Trump by making a formal announcement on India – US trade tariff just through a social media platform only because India has the weakest Prime Minister, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu has said.
During informal chat with the reporters after participating in a meeting on ‘My Village, My Dream’ meeting at the Collectorate here on Wednesday, Mr. Appavu said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after Mr. Trump made this all-important impactful announcement through a social media platform without any discussion with Indian Commerce Minister or External Affairs Minister, was observing inexplicable silence and merely thanked the US President profusely through the same social media platform. The US, without any formal discussion or signing of agreement between the two countries, had made a unilateral announcement on tariff through the social media, which showed the how weak India was.
“While the US has slapped 18% tariff on Indian products as per the announcement from Mr. Trump, India cannot collect any tariff for the US products going to flood the Indian market. The tariff for American products to be imported in India is just zero percentage,” Mr. Appavu said.
The Speaker also squarely blamed Mr. Modi and the BJP for attempting to portray Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as ‘anti-national’.
“Mr. Rahul quoted only the observations of former Army Chief in his yet-to-be released memoir on Chinese incursion into Indian territory for which the Modi government is accountable. When Mr. Rahul wants to have comprehensive discussion in the Parliament on this serious issue, he is being portrayed as ‘anti-national’ by the BJP, its MPs and the Ministers,” he added.
On West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appearing before the Supreme Court in her case against Special Intensive Revision of electoral roll, Mr. Appavu said she had approached the apex court as no meaningful discussion was allowed in the Parliament on SIR. “After democracy was buried in the Parliament, she has knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court,” he said.
Published – February 04, 2026 08:13 pm IST
