Six questions that PM Modi has avoided answering in Parliament

Canadian Prime Minister Mike Carney told an audience back in Canada that his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi had told him that he, Modi, had not taken a day off in the last 25 years. The Indian PM, Carney added, went out every weekend to campaign. He then pointed to a Canadian politician and said while he too campaigned and addressed audiences of a hundred people or more, Modi’s rallies are attended by 250,000 people.

That PM Modi works 18 hours a day is repeated by most BJP leaders, and Union home minister Amit Shah is famously said to have declared recently that PM Modi did not even take time off to freshen up for three consecutive days while attending a workers’ meeting.

They do not, however, explain why the prime minister is giving Parliament the miss. While Shah on Wednesday waxed eloquent about the allegedly poor attendance of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, he did not bother to dwell on the PM’s absence.

The truth is, the prime minister's reluctance to make statements in Parliament is baffling, and shows a contempt that he likely would be loath to admit.

Besides a statement and reassurance on India’s energy security and at least a statement of regret over the US navy sinking an Iranian ship in the Indian Ocean on its way home after a ceremonial visit to India, there are at least six other questions that the nation wanted the PM to answer this week:

What is the status of the Indo-US trade deal? The prime minister needs to tell the nation the circumstances and the terms on which India agreed to a ‘framework agreement’ for an interim-trade-deal; and why India agreed to import $500 billion worth of goods from the US in the next five years; why indeed did India agree to impose zero tariff on most imports from the US, as the Americans claimed.

What is the status of the deal after the US Supreme Court declared President Donald Trump’s unilateral tariff regime illegal? Has India bartered away interests of Indian farmers? The PM needed to reassure the country but there has not been a squeak from him.

What compelled him to visit Tel Aviv last month? His two-day visit to Tel Aviv last month, two days before Israel launched a unilateral and illegal war against Iran, has come under severe criticism. After Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza and Palestine and following Benjamin Netanyahu being declared a war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Indian PM’s visit to Israel was embarrassing.

Reports in Israeli media that the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, came up with a medal just for him has invited ridicule from the rest of the world. The PM needs to clarify why the visit, his second since 2017, was necessary and whether he feels betrayed by Israel’s attack on Iran soon after he left.

Details of the 16 deals he signed:  The prime minister also needs to explain details of the 16-odd deals that India is reported to have signed with Israel during the two-day trip. This assumes importance because of the cabinet notification that deals signed by the PM on his visits abroad would no longer require the cabinet’s approval. This is a highly unusual condition because in our parliamentary democracy, the cabinet is collectively responsible for international deals. What would have called for the PM to bypass the cabinet? Doesn’t the Indian Parliament deserve to know?

Rules relaxed for Chinese investment and FDI: The Union government had banned Chinese apps including TikTok in 2020 and restricted Chinese investment and FDI in India following border disputes and clashes between troops in Ladakh. What has changed since then for the government to change its stand and relax the restrictions? Surely the Parliament deserves to know what prompted the decision, and whether the decision is being taken under pressure from someone or somewhere.

Does India need permission from US to buy Russian oil? The US commerce secretary, treasury secretary and the White House press secretary have all repeated that India has been ‘allowed’ to buy Russian oil, that ‘permission’ has been granted to buy said oil for a month until March-end, in view of the oil containers already on the high seas.

While MEA officials have informally told Indian media that India retains its strategic autonomy and sovereignty, that oil companies independently decide from where and at what prices they would buy oil, why is there not a clear expression of displeasure over the language being used by the Trump administration?

Why has the PM failed to condole the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei? What explains the prime minister’s refusal to condole and indeed condemn the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei? It was embarrassing for the country to find foreign secretary Vikram Misri turning up at the Iranian embassy in New Delhi six days after the assassination to sign the condolence register. The failure of the prime minister — who sees an insult to tribals and President Droupadi Murmu when the West Bengal chief minister fails to receive the President — to follow protocol and common courtesy deserves an explanation in Parliament.

The PM Modi, however, spent virtually the whole day on Wednesday, 11 March in Keralam and Tamil Nadu, campaigning. He even had time to post on X a series of statements over his visit to the two poll-bound states. On Tuesday evening in fact, he posted several statements regarding the visits but of course found no time to attend the Lok Sabha and answer the questions.

Two of these posts are reproduced here as a matter of record:

• 'At around 2:15 PM tomorrow, 11th March, I will address the NDA rally being held in Ernakulam. The NDA’s good governance agenda stands tall in contrast to the loot and misgovernance of both LDF and UDF. NDA will focus on development-oriented politics and fulfil the aspirations of the youth of Keralam.'

• 'At around 6:30 PM tomorrow, 11th March, I will join NDA leaders of Tamil Nadu for the NDA rally in Tiruchirappalli. DMK is clearly rattled by the NDA’s rising popularity across the state. The people of Tamil Nadu have seen through the misgovernance and unfulfilled promises of DMK. That is why, they are connecting with NDA’s agenda of hope and progress.'