As the Iran-Israel-US war entered its eighth day, both sides continue to rain missiles and drones with no sign of an early end to the conflict.
In the first aftereffects of the war, India had already begun import of Russian crude on a big scale. The US had to admit that an energy crisis was emerging because of disruption in crude supplies from Gulf countries.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a 30-day “temporary waiver” for India to buy Russian oil.
Bessent wrote on social media: “Our allies in India have been good actors and have previously stopped buying sanctioned Russian oil. As we work to ease the temporary gap of oil supply around the world, we have temporarily permitted them to accept Russian oil that is already on the water.
“This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government because it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea.”
The manner in which the US Treasury secretary posted this announcement was baffling, to say the least.
Congress, Samajwadi Party, RJD, AIMIM and other opposition parties targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging that he has weakened India’s strategic autonomy.
But questions arise.
Who sought ‘permission’ to buy Russian oil from the US? Did India stop buying Russian crude prior to Scott Bessent’s announcement? How much crude is India buying from Russia?
The timing and language of Scott Bessent’s tweet go against diplomatic protocol. The wordings of his tweet has become a political issue in India.
To add salt to the wound, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said at the Raisina Dialogue in Delhi that the US will not repeat the mistakes with India that it made with China two decades ago.
Christopher Landau said: “India should understand that we’re not going to make the same mistakes with India that we made with China 20 years ago in terms of saying,oh, we’re going to let you be able to develop all these markets, and then the next thing we know, you’re beating us in a lot of commercial things….The purpose of our foreign policy is to advance our national interests.”
While there is nothing wrong in the US looking after its own interests, it is trying to project as if it is America which is deciding, from which country India should import crude.
Let me explain why the US claim is incorrect. The ground reality is, India had already decided to increase its Russian crude import much before Scott Bessent posted his tweet on social media.
Already Russia has begun exporting crude to India. Nearly 9.5 million barrels of Russian crude are going to reach India within a week. Out of two 1.4 million each crude cargoes sent by Russia, one has already reached Paradip port in Odisha and the other cargo is going to reach Vadinar port near Dwarka soon.
Also, another tanker carrying Russian crude bound towards Singapore is being diverted towards India. Now that Russian crude have already reached India and are on the way to reach our parts, Scott Bessent is claiming that the US has “temporarily permitted” India to buy Russian crude for 30 days. Who will believe this claim?
Already India had been importing nearly 20 pc of its crude requirements from Russia. Even today, India is buying more than one million barrels of crude from Russia daily.
When the US slapped steep tariff on India, India’s import of Russian crude was on the rise. India has adequate stocks of natural gas too and nobody in India should worry for at least a month.
However, if the war prolongs, India will have to explore other sources of oil import and the government is already on the job.
India is not solely dependent on Strait of Hormuz for its oil import. Crude is reaching Indian ports from other routes too.
Our LPG stocks are also satisfactory and there is no problem with production and supplies. The Centre on Friday directed all refineries to raise LPG production on priority basis.
There are nearly 33 crore LPG consumers in India. If required, LPG supplies meant for industrial use can be diverted for domestic consumption.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has assured that there is no shortage of oil and gas in India and people must not be unduly worried.
On the other hand, opposition parties are targetting Prime Minister Modi and accusing him of kow-towing to the US.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi wrote on X: “What we are witnessing today is not (foreign) policy. It is the result of the exploitation of a compromised individual.”
This is not the first time that Prime Minister Modi is being criticized for statements emanating from the US.
When US President Trump claimed umpteen number of times that it was he who stopped India-Pakistan conflict by threatening to call off trade deals, Modi was criticized.
When Trump demanded that India should stop buying Russian crude, questions were raised about Modi’s silence.
But Modi never bothered about such criticisms. At last, Trump was proved wrong.
As far as “permission” to buy crude from Russia is concerned, neither did India seek permission, nor did any country grant permission.
India had already been buying Russia crude and is still buying. President Trump has not granted any favour to India. It can be a facade to hide failure.
The ground reality is, gasoline prices have gone up in the US and oil and gas supplies to Europe have been badly hit. There is tremendous pressure on Trump.
Much of the crude that India buys from outside, is processed in our refineries for onwards export to Europe.
India took advantage of the crisis and spiked its import of Russian crude. This may somewhat lessen worries of European countries.
In order to assuage the feelings of his European allies, Trump has tried to portray as if he has done a favour by granting 30 days temporary waiver to India.
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