A day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said any financial assistance to Pakistan is no less than terror funding and urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reconsider its assistance to the neighbouring country, the Congress said Saturday that the Narendra Modi government had “simply buckled under US pressure” at the IMF Executive Board meeting when the loans were deliberated upon.
Congress general secretary for communications Jairam Ramesh said Singh is now criticising the IMF for approving loans to Pakistan on May 9, 2025, “but on April 29th itself – before the Modi government woke up – the Congress had said that the IMF Executive Board was meeting on May 9th to consider this issue and that India should oppose it forcefully”.
“As it turns out, India only abstained on May 9th. Later, the Modi government’s drumbeaters, cheerleaders and apologists argued that this was the only option available to India. This is a lie. There is indeed a provision to vote ‘No’ in the Executive Board. Russia had voted ‘No’ on a loan proposal to Ukraine in September 2016, and India herself had voted ‘No’ on 11th September, 2005, on the issue of the expulsion of Zimbabwe,” said Ramesh.
“Where there is a will, there is a way. The Modi government simply buckled under US pressure on May 9th at the IMF Executive Board meeting,” he added.
New Delhi had conveyed its “strong dissent” to IMF’s decision in the wake of India’s escalating conflict with Pakistan. On its part, India abstained from voting in the meeting. Government of India sources had earlier said that IMF rules do not permit a formal “No” vote, with the international body typically resorting to consensus for decisions.
On Friday, addressing military personnel at the Air Force Station in Gujarat’s Bhuj, Rajnath Singh had said, “I believe that in current times, any assistance to Pakistan is no less than terror funding. India would want the IMF to reconsider its assistance of USD 1 billion to Pakistan; and abstain from giving any assistance in future as well. India does not want the funding we do to IMF to be used, directly or indirectly, in creating terror infrastructure in Pakistan or in any other country.”
