It's My Life but I've to Pay BJP's Bills |
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The world is looking to the Trump-Xi dialogue for signs of temporary relief from the West Asian war and the cascading crisis it has unleashed. Yet, even if the talks produce meaningful progress, any tangible easing of the turmoil is likely to remain months away. Given this, prime minister Narendra Modi’s appeals asking Indians to practice economic prudence by reducing expenditure on fuel, gold, foreign travel, edible oils and fertilisers, and work from home was perhaps inevitable. As is its usual wont, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is spinning PM Modi’s appeals as a masterstroke and characterising them as a patriotic duty. But beneath the rhetoric lies a more uncomfortable question namely whether this is shared sacrifice or redistributed burden?
Prudence or Pressure?
At first glance, the government appears to be doing the best it can under the circumstances. After all, global energy markets remain volatile, food prices are sensitive, and geopolitical instability has tightened supply chains. Plus, neither the West Asian war nor the blockade of the Hormuz Strait were foreseeable. Moreover, much of the world is grappling with shortages of fuel, food, consumer goods, and other essential supplies (and as the BJP’s ecosystem argues, India is doing much better than other nations).
However, each of these seven appeals ask Indians to internalise macroeconomic stress through behavioural restraint. In that sense, they are nothing short of moral coercion to police citizens into consuming less, travelling less, and investing differently (essentially lowering their aspirations). Instead of redressing the structural weaknesses wrought by the BJP government’s economic and foreign policy mismanagement, the prime minister is shifting the burden of macroeconomic stability onto Indians. Given this, it is critical to dissect the backstory behind and potential trajectories of these appeals.
Firstly, the Modi government assured the nation that 70% of India’s crude imports now come from routes outside the Strait of Hormuz (compared to about 55% earlier). Yet, that assurance rings increasingly hollow. The Modi government has steadily eroded India’s energy sovereignty and security by narrowing the right to purchase discounted oil from Iran (in May 2019) and Venezuela (in 2020) in Indian rupees. Given its long-standing strategic ties with both Iran, India was well positioned to secure a steady flow of energy supplies despite the war in West Asia.
After all, the first duty of any government is to safeguard the economic interests and security of its own citizens. Yet, by politically endorsing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war against Iran (a conflict that is deeply entwined with the electoral compulsions of his Likud party ahead of Israel’s national elections), PM Modi has effectively alienated Tehran and undermined India’s long-term strategic interests, which previously enabled discounted oil access and smoother energy transit arrangements.
Similar concerns extend to Russian oil imports, which at one stage accounted for 40% of India’s crude imports and was paid for partly in rupees. The Modi government significantly reduced import of discounted Russian oil after the United States of America (USA) imposed tariffs. Consequently, imports fell to a 44-month low in January 2026, representing a nearly 35% year-over-year reduction in volume.
After the conflict in West Asia, Washington granted India an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions waiver to stabilise global energy markets and prevent fuel shortages (caused by supply chain disruptions and blockages at the Strait of Hormuz). However, with that waiver reportedly nearing expiry and Washington signalling that it will not be renewed, India once again finds itself staring at acute energy uncertainty. The Modi government appears so wary of provoking the United States that it reportedly redirected the tanker Kunpeng which is carrying 60,000 tonnes of LNG from Russia’s Baltic Portovaya plant to India, even before the OFAC waiver expires on May 16.
Given that it is the Modi government which has consistently chosen to surrender India’s strategic autonomy, a legitimate question that we should be asking is why the burden........