New Delhi [India]: Congress leader and Member of Parliament Jairam Ramesh on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led central government, accusing it of yielding to US pressure by abstaining from a crucial IMF vote on May 9 concerning a $1.3 billion loan to Pakistan.
In a post on social media platform X, Ramesh criticized the government’s stance, arguing that India had the option to vote against the proposal in the IMF Executive Board meeting but chose to abstain instead.
“Where there is a will, there is a way. The Modi Govt simply buckled under US pressure on May 9th at the IMF Executive Board meeting,” Ramesh said.
He further pointed out that the Indian National Congress had urged the government to oppose the IMF bailout “forcefully”, well ahead of the scheduled board meeting.
“On April 29th itself – before the Modi Govt woke up – the INC had said that the IMF Executive Board was meeting on May 9th to consider this issue and that India should oppose it forcefully,” he added.
Countering claims that India had no option other than abstaining, Ramesh cited past precedents where both India and Russia exercised their right to vote “No” at the IMF board:
“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,” the Congress Rajya Sabha MP stated.
This comes a day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh appealed to the IMF to reconsider its funding to Pakistan, alleging that the funds would be diverted to terror infrastructure.
“I believe Pakistan will spend a large portion of the funds received from the International Monetary Fund on terror infrastructure in its country… India wants the IMF to reconsider funding to Pakistan,” Singh had said while addressing Air Warriors at the Bhuj Air Force Station on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance issued an official statement confirming India’s abstention from the IMF vote, which involved the review of a $1 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and a fresh $1.3 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) for Pakistan.
India’s statement raised concerns over Pakistan’s poor track record with previous IMF loans and cited the risk of fund diversion to activities including state-sponsored cross-border terrorism.
The Ministry highlighted that Pakistan has received IMF disbursements in 28 of the past 35 years since 1989, and has launched four separate IMF programmes in just the past five years.