logo
India should not engage with Pakistan in any sphere: Abhishek Banerjee

India should not engage with Pakistan in any sphere: Abhishek Banerjee

Time of India28-07-2025
Trinamool Congress
National general secretary
Abhishek Banerjee
on Monday said that India must not engage with Pakistan in any sphere and the only engagement with that country should be on the battlefield.
In a post on X, the Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP said that for decades, Pakistan has exported terror, bled India, causing irreparable loss to Indian lives and families.
Explore courses from Top Institutes in
Please select course:
Select a Course Category
others
CXO
Operations Management
healthcare
Healthcare
Data Science
Others
Product Management
Digital Marketing
MCA
Technology
PGDM
Cybersecurity
Project Management
Design Thinking
Public Policy
Management
Artificial Intelligence
Degree
Finance
MBA
Data Analytics
Leadership
Data Science
Skills you'll gain:
Duration:
16 Weeks
Indian School of Business
CERT - ISB Cybersecurity for Leaders Program India
Starts on
undefined
Get Details
"India must not engage with Pakistan in any sphere. The only engagement we should have with Pakistan is on the battlefield, and the only prize worth winning is Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir", he said in the post.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Join new Free to Play WWII MMO War Thunder
War Thunder
Play Now
Undo
Banerjee said, "For decades, Pakistan has exported terror, bled our nation by causing irreparable loss to Indian lives and families. And yet, every now and then, we hear calls to keep politics out of sport. No! This has to stop", he added.
The TMC MP said that when a nation wages a proxy war, there is no neutral ground. "There is no cricket pitch wise enough to wash off the blood of our martyrs", he said.
Live Events
"Our Tricolour flies high not because of the bat and ball, but because of the unmatched courage and valour of our armed forces. We honour our cricketers, and I deeply respect the game. But as a nation, we revere our soldiers. Those who stand guard while we cheer in stadiums, those who bleed while others play", he said in the post.
Banerjee also said, "That extending a handshake to a nation that fires bullets across our borders is not diplomacy - it's a bloody betrayal."
"Let justice, not entertainment, be our goal. If there is to be a match with Pakistan, let it be fought at the Line of Control (LoC) and let Pakistan-occupied J&K be the only trophy we seek", he said.
He added, "Anything less is an insult to our martyrs and an injustice and betrayal to the victims of
Pahalgam
. Period".
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

India's envoy to US shares India's energy security priorities with Senator Lindsey Graham
India's envoy to US shares India's energy security priorities with Senator Lindsey Graham

First Post

time3 minutes ago

  • First Post

India's envoy to US shares India's energy security priorities with Senator Lindsey Graham

India's Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Saturday spoke to US Senator Lindsey Graham and shared New Delhi's perspective on its energy security, including increasing energy trade with the United States. read more India's Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, held talks with US Senator Lindsey Graham on Saturday, discussing New Delhi's energy security priorities and the growing energy trade between the two countries. 'Spoke to Senator @LindseyGrahamSC and shared with him the Indian perspective on our energy security including increasing energy trade with the United States,' Kwatra said in a post on social media. The conversation came a day after Graham called on India to use its 'influence' to help US President Donald Trump bring an end to the war in Ukraine, shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The American senator, in a post on social media said that it will be 'consequential' in improving relations between Washington and Delhi. 'As I have been telling my friends in India, one of the most consequential things they could do to improve India-US relations is to help President Trump end this bloodbath in Ukraine,' Graham posted on Friday. Graham said that India is the second-largest purchaser of cheap oil from Russia, which 'fuels Putin's war machine.' 'I hope Prime Minister Modi emphasised to Putin in their recent phone call the need to end this war in Ukraine justly, honourably and forever. I have always believed India has influence in this matter, and I am hoping they will use it wisely,' Graham added. Graham was responding to PM Modi's post on X following his phone call with President Putin. Modi said he had a 'very good and detailed conversation' with 'my friend President Putin.' During their phone conversation on Friday, Putin briefed Modi on the latest developments concerning Ukraine. 'In light of the special privileged partnership between Russia and India, Vladimir Putin shared the key outcomes of his meeting with US President's Special Envoy Steven Witkoff,' the Kremlin said in a statement. Prime Minister Modi thanked President Putin for the information and confirmed India's 'unwavering stance in favour of settling the situation surrounding Ukraine via political and diplomatic means,' it added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Modi has invited Putin to India later this year for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. Graham has supported Trump's decision to impose additional tariffs on India for its purchases of Russian oil, saying, 'Making those like India pay a price for their war profiteering is a good place to start.' Trump has imposed a staggering 50 per cent tariff on India, 25 per cent levy, topped with a 25 per cent penalty for continued purchase of Russian oil. With inputs from agencies

Around $30-35 billion of India's merchandise exports to America at risk from Trump's tariffs, says UBS Chief India Economist
Around $30-35 billion of India's merchandise exports to America at risk from Trump's tariffs, says UBS Chief India Economist

Indian Express

time5 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

Around $30-35 billion of India's merchandise exports to America at risk from Trump's tariffs, says UBS Chief India Economist

US President Donald Trump's decision to impose a total tariff of 50 per cent on India has put at risk $30 billion-$35 billion worth of New Delhi's exports to the world's largest economy, according to Tanvee Gupta Jain, UBS' Chief India Economist. Consequently, India — whose merchandise exports to the US in 2024 totalled $87.3 billion, resulting in a surplus of $45.8 billion — faces the risk of losing almost a full percentage point from its GDP growth over two years, she said. In an interview with The Indian Express Siddharth, Jain also shed light on the possibility of India reducing its purchase of Russian oil and the Indian economy's growth and inflation prospects in light of the RBI's latest monetary policy decision. Edited excerpts: US tariff on India is now 50 per cent, with a three-week waiting period. Purely in terms of the trade relations, what is your assessment of the impact? US President Donald Trump has now announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on India for buying oil from Russia, taking the total tariffs to 50 per cent. This additional tariff is effective from August 27, that is 21 days after the executive order. There are a few sectors including pharma, smartphones, (that) are currently under section 232 investigations and are exempted from tariffs. The exempted sectors account for $24 billion or around 30 per cent of India's total goods exports to the US of $87 billion. The way we look at the impact of the tariffs is as follows: we note the US accounts for $87 billion or 20 per cent of India's goods export, or about 2.2 per cent of India's GDP. We multiply the new tariff rate with trade exposure to the US to get a 'GDP at risk' measure. Further assuming a -1 price elasticity, we estimate drag from the proposed tariffs that is 25 per cent effective from today and an additional 25 per cent effective from August 27 versus our current baseline to be 35 basis points (bps) in 2025-26 and 60 bps in 2026-27. We would stress that our estimates are subject to substantial uncertainty as the trade negotiations with the US are ongoing. In addition, other considerations for our growth forecast include how global growth pans out and if counter-cyclical policy support could help support domestic demand momentum in the face of tariff-related uncertainties. These are just scenarios that we have. We are not yet changing our estimates as a lot will depend on how the negotiations happen over the coming weeks and months. So, the exports at risk from the tariffs are roughly $56 billion or so. Do you have an estimate of how much that could fall by if the 50 per cent tariff stays in place? I would say the exports at risk out of India's $87 billion of goods exports to the US, taking into account the exemptions, are roughly around $30 billion-$35 billion. The 21-day pause gives some time for the negotiations to continue later this month. Do you see any sign of a deal with the US resulting in a meaningfully lower tariff rate without India conceding ground on its two non-negotiables: agriculture and dairy? Taking lessons from India's Asian peers that have negotiated a trade deal with the US — including Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan — we expect India to open its market to the US, implying zero tariffs on American goods. Like its peers, we expect India to commit to increasing purchases of energy and defence equipment from the US to bring down its goods trade surplus of $46 billion as of 2024. However, opening up agriculture and dairy sectors to the US remains a key hurdle. These low value-added sectors could impact Indian farmers' livelihoods — especially small ones engaged in dairy production. India's dairy sector accounts for 3 per cent of nominal gross value added and provides a living for over 80 million dairy farmers. In our base case, we would expect a trade deal to happen sooner than later as any lingering uncertainty is a drag to overall growth. As per media reports, the US trade delegation is likely to visit India sometime in the last week of August as part of this discussion. So, we are hoping that something comes out of it. It is interesting that the start date of these additional tariffs, August 27, is a couple of days after the next round of talks between the US and India. India's trade with Russia is clearly an issue for the US. Can India source oil from other countries without a meaningful impact on domestic fuel prices, overall inflation, and the government's finances? India is a net oil importer and we import almost 88 per cent of our oil requirement. So clearly, movements in oil prices will have a very important bearing on our macro stability risks, including current account, inflation, and the government's finances. Hence, it will impact the overall economic growth prospects. Before the Russia-Ukraine conflict began in 2022, Russia's share in India's oil imports was 2 per cent. This rose to 36 per cent in 2024-25. As per UBS' oil analysts, Indian refineries are typically complex because the units are optimised to process the heavier Russian Ural. Further, the price advantage of the Ural crude to Brent, which was very favourable for India when the conflict began in 2022, has now reduced to $2-3 per barrel on a landed cost basis. So, India may not lose much if it shifts away from Russian oil because the savings right now are only $2 billion. But the UBS global energy team has also pointed out that the crude market is only partially pricing supply disruption due to tariff pressures on India. So, it could temporarily drive crude prices above $70 a barrel. But if there is sufficient surplus and OPEC spare capacity, it can definitely cap the upside in prices. There is now a pressure to finish trade deals quickly. Is there anything to be worried about in terms of these deals resulting in India giving up too much during negotiations or not extracting as favourable terms as it could have otherwise? To be fair, India was the first country to come to the table to negotiate with the US and we are still there right now. So, it seems that India is trying to prioritise national interest and it is not in any rush to finish a trade deal quickly. The hope is that we are able to find a balanced deal between India and the US which works to both the countries' benefit. RBI's Monetary Policy Committee stayed put on the repo rate, but you now expect an additional 25 bps rate cut in October given the uncertainty caused by the tariffs. How does one understand this additional easing given that the central bank's latest forecast puts headline retail inflation at 4.9 per cent in April-June 2026? Our inflation forecast for 2025-26 — even before the Reserve Bank of India lowered their estimate by 60 bps to 3.1 per cent — was tracking close to 3 per cent with more downside risk. This is supported by good agricultural output, favourable monsoon, and the lower global crude oil prices. The offloading of excess China capacity in India at cheaper prices could result in a disinflationary impulse. Overlaying this disinflationary impulse with RBI's neutral policy rate assumption of 1.4-1.9 per cent, we see space for the terminal repo rate to fall towards 5-5.25 per cent range. For now, we add one 25 bps rate cut in the October meeting to our baseline, with risk of another (rate cut) if growth surprises lower, driven by US trade tariffs and/or a step shift lower in global growth. Yes, the one-year forward inflation of 4.9 per cent looks very high because of the base effect. But I would expect the new CPI inflation series, which will likely be launched early next year, to streamline that one-year forward inflation forecast. At this point, we think the RBI has kept some ammunition in the form of monetary easing support in case growth risks are skewed towards the downside. The RBI has maintained its 2025-26 GDP growth forecast at 6.5 per cent despite the global uncertainty, although it did trim it back in April by 20 bps from 6.7 per cent. Is the RBI possibly underestimating the hit to growth — not just from the tariffs themselves but also the adverse impact on corporate sentiment from the uncertainty? I would give the RBI some benefit of doubt because the MPC meeting took place before the additional 25 per cent tariff was announced. If we only incorporate the 25 per cent tariff that was in place before the additional tariff got announced after the RBI policy, the downside risk to GDP growth in real terms for 2025-26 was only coming to around 10-15 bps, as per our estimates. You recently launched your rural and urban economic activity indicators, where you said household consumption recovery is expected to become broad-based over the next 2-3 quarters backed by RBI's rate cuts, softer inflation, good monsoon, and income tax relief, among other factors. Will this recovery sustain without an appreciable rise in actual income levels? The UBS India Composite Economic Indicator, our leading indicator with 15 high-frequency data points, suggests economic momentum softened in May. This is in line with our global growth nowcast which suggests that tariffs and global uncertainty dragged growth sharply in May after a resilient April, helped by US tariff front-loading including improved demand, production, and trade. Our activity indicators suggest rural activity improved, while urban activity remained subdued in the June quarter. We note that rural accounts for 46 per cent share of total consumption. Even as rural activity is gaining traction, we believe it is still too early to expect a broad-based recovery in household consumption as urban activity continues to soften. One of the factors supporting our view that household consumption could be the bright spot in 2025-26/2026-27 was urban demand will stabilise on monetary transmission, lower inflation, and policy stimulus from income tax relief and likely fuel price cuts. We were also expecting a pay boost under the pay commission. However, implementation of the Eighth Central Pay Commission seems likely to be delayed to early 2027. While consumption will be growth-supportive, we are not expecting a broad-based household consumption recovery anytime soon. Siddharth Upasani is a Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. He reports primarily on data and the economy, looking for trends and changes in the former which paint a picture of the latter. Before The Indian Express, he worked at Moneycontrol and financial newswire Informist (previously called Cogencis). Outside of work, sports, fantasy football, and graphic novels keep him busy. ... Read More

Country needs 22 lakh drivers, tribals must eye it: Gadkari
Country needs 22 lakh drivers, tribals must eye it: Gadkari

Time of India

time17 minutes ago

  • Time of India

Country needs 22 lakh drivers, tribals must eye it: Gadkari

Nagpur: The country needs 22 lakh vehicle drivers. Recognising this as the biggest employment opportunity, vehicle driver training centres should be started. The tribal community should take initiative in this and train their people, said Union transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari. He was speaking at the Virangana Rani Durgawati Women Empowerment Conference organised by the tribal development department of Maharashtra govt at Suresh Bhat Auditorium. Tribal development minister Ashok Uike, finance minister Ashish Jaiswal, Union minister of state Durgadas Uike, TDD secretary Vijay Waghmare, MPs Shyamkumar Barve and Faggan Singh Kulaste, former mayor Maya Iwnate, deputy commissioner Digambar Chavan, All India Tribal Development Council general secretary Dinesh Sheram and others were present. "Today Maharashtra has 30 and the country has 250 driver training centres. These centres are insufficient for producing drivers," said Gadkari. "Even e-rickshaws are important means of employment generation. E-rickshaws have eliminated the old rickshaw system where humans pulled other humans. This has liberated one crore people. Today they are earning their livelihood with dignity by driving e-rickshaws. Through pink e-rickshaws, employment has been made available to women, said Gadkari, advising to purchase good quality e-rickshaws. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Understand Your Cat Better - 15+ Cat Behaviors Explained Undo Gadkari urged deprived sections to pursue education for self-reliance, citing initiatives like Warli painting and Gondi saree designs and mehendi training for 650 women. The Virangana Rani Durgawati Women Empowerment initiative was launched on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan by the tribal development department. People from the tribal community who have done remarkable work in various fields were felicitated on the occasion. Waghmare stressed on women-centric schemes for tribal empowerment, outlining ongoing govt programmes to enhance economic and social status. TDD commissioner Leena Bansod gave the introductory remarks. Programme was conducted by Vrushali Deshpande while vote of thanks was proposed by additional commissioner Ayushi Singh. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Raksha Bandhan wishes , messages and quotes !

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store