New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to "prostrate" before US President Donald Trump and give a huge amount of money to America, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Wednesday and demanded a rollback of the government's decision to levy a fee on UPI payments.
In a video posted on X, Gandhi urged Prime Minister Modi to "stop lying down in front of the US, have a spine, stand up" and rollback the "UPI tax".
The government on Tuesday introduced a 0.4 per cent fee on transfers worth more than Rs 2,000 made to merchants through UPI from October 15, while explicitly ring-fencing everyday person-to-person transactions as well as small payments from any charge.
Read more: 'Narendra's Ongoing Trump Appeasement': Congress' dig at Prime Minister on UPI move
Gandhi said, "(Former prime minister) Indira (Gandhi) ji was once asked whether she leans left or right and her response was 'I don't lean left, I don't lean right, I stand straight'. Modi ji has a completely different concept, he is neither left nor right, he has decided to lie down straight and prostrate himself in front of Donald Trump."
"He (Modi) has put a tax on every single Indian person by taxing UPI and giving a huge amount of money to the United States," Gandhi said in the video in which he is seen standing before a portrait of Indira Gandhi.
"Modi ji, rollback the UPI tax. Now," he said in a post accompanying the video.
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The Congress has accused the government of giving into a US demand to get rid of zero MDR (merchant discount rate) and charge for UPI, and said the prime minister has "redefined NOTA - Narendra's Ongoing Trump Appeasement".
Gandhi had earlier alleged that Prime Minister Modi was "compromised" and "once again surrendering" to American pressure.
The BJP hit back, accusing the Congress of spreading "fake news" and saying the government had made it absolutely clear that MDR charges would not be levied on consumers.
