Rahul Gandhi says US-Iran war could have major impact on India: ‘Pain has just started’

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi

While speaking in Parliament on Thursday about rising LPG concerns across the country, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Energy Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, making a remark about the “Epstein files.”

Gandhi said people were facing gas shortages and that many hotels and restaurants were close to shutting down due to the situation. He stressed that energy security forms the foundation of any country.

The Congress leader also questioned why India should allow the United States to influence decisions on where it purchases its gas from.

“The foundation of every single nation is its energy security. Allowing the United States to decide who we buy oil from, who we buy gas from, and whether we can buy oil from Russia or not. Our relationship with different oil suppliers can be decided by us. This is what has been bartered. Why a nation the size of India would allow any other nation, the President of another nation to give us permission to buy Russian oil, to decide who our relationships are with,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Gandhi said the war between the US-Israel and Iran is going to have far-reaching consequences.

"The central artery from where 20 pc of global oil flows, Strait of Hormuz, has been closed and this is going to have tremendous repercussions, particularly for us because a very large portion of our oil and natural gas comes through the Strait of Hormuz," Gandhi said. "The pain has just started -- restaurants are closing, there is widespread panic about LPG, street vendors are affected and as I said, this is only the beginning," the former Congress president said.

The foundation of every single nation is its energy security, Gandhi asserted.

"I do not say this lightly, but allowing the US to decide who we buy oil, gas from... whether we buy oil from Russia or not, whether our relationship with different oil suppliers can be decided by us, this is what has been bartered," the Congress leader said. "This is a very puzzling fact for me, this is a very puzzling fact as to why a nation the size of India would allow the president of any other nation to give us permission to buy Russian oil, to decide who our relationships are with," Gandhi said in an apparent reference to the US giving a 30-day waiver to buy oil from Russia.

"This has been a puzzle and I have been trying to figure this puzzle out. I have figured the puzzle out. The puzzle is about compromise. We have a gentleman sitting here who is the oil minister (Hardeep Puri), he himself has said that he is a friend of Mr Epstein," Gandhi said, adding, "I have a document which shows his (Puri's) daughter has received money from George Soros." This evoked an uproar from the treasury benches.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked Gandhi to speak on the notice he has given and not move to other topics.