Trump Can’t Digest India’s Rise, Says Rajnath in Dig at US President

 Bhopal: Union defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday took a swipe at US President Donald Trump’s “arm-twisting trade tariff diplomacy,” saying that “sab ke (everyone’s) boss does not like India’s rise.”

“Today, if any country has a dashing and dynamic economy, it is India. Some people are not able to digest the rapid rise of India,” he said while laying the foundation stone of the BRAHMA project (BEML Rail Hub for Manufacturing) to make rail coaches in Raisen, Madhya Pradesh.

“Some people think they are everyone’s boss,” Singh said, in a veiled reference to Trump, without naming him, for abnormally hiking trade tariffs for India to 50 per cent.

He said no power on earth can stop India from emerging as a major global power. Taking a further dig at the high tariffs imposed by the US, he said, “Some people are trying to make goods made in India and by Indians more expensive in their country so that their own people do not buy them.”

In 2014, India was the 11th largest economy in the world, but it is now among the four largest, he noted.

Singh highlighted how the country’s defence sector has transformed since 2014. “India used to be a major importer of defence products before 2014. Now the country has become self-reliant, catering to its own needs and exporting to other countries.”

Defence exports, he said, have increased from ₹600 crore in 2014, when Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, to ₹24,000 crore now. “This is the power of India. This is the new defence sector of the new India,” he said.

Referring to the Pahalgam massacre in April, in which 26 people were killed by terrorists, Singh said India gave a befitting reply to Pakistan with Operation Sindoor.

“In Pahalgam, people were killed after being asked to identify their religion. We eliminated those terrorists not by looking at their religion, but by looking at their deeds,” he said. “Anyone who instigates us will not be spared,” he added.