PM chose to bow down to Trump, says Rahul on UPI allegations

Lok Sabha LoP and Rahul Gandhi. File | Photo credit: AICC

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government over the imposition of charges on certain UPI transactions, accusing the prime minister of “kowtowing” to US President Donald Trump and demanding an immediate reversal of the decision.

In a video posted on X, Mr Gandhi said Mr Modi had “decided to lie flat and bow to Donald Trump” and accused the government of imposing a “UPI tax” on Indians to give “huge amounts of money” to the United States.

Modi ji, bring back UPI tax. Now. pic.twitter.com/IIt46zMgCG

—Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 16, 2026

“Indira Gandhi ji was once asked whether she leans left or right and her reply 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 chose to lie straight and bow to Donald Trump,” Gandhi said.

“Modi ji, stop lying down in front of the US, turn around, stand up and abolish the UPI tax,” Mr Gandhi added.

Congress has sought to link the UPI decision to what it describes as growing US pressure on India, including demands for changes to the zero commercial discount rate (MDR) regime for UPI. The party also stepped up its attack after the US Congress imposed tariffs on countries buying oil and gas from Russia.

Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the US trade representative had earlier criticized UPI for being free and crowding out card companies like Visa and Mastercard.

“The Modi government here caved in to the US demand to get rid of zero MDR and charge UPI,” Mr Ramesh said, asking why the rate was fixed at 0.4% and whether the move was to allow US card companies to compete with UPI.

“Prime Minister redefined NOTA – Narendra’s continued appeasement of Trump,” he said.

“policy failure”

Reacting to the US tariff legislation, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the threat of higher tariffs showed that the government’s foreign and trade policies had “failed miserably”.

“From tariffs and trade to H1B1 immigration, visas and digital payments, the pressure from Washington keeps mounting and you ‘Hi Modi ji’ keep giving in!” Mr. Kharge said on X.

Congress media and publicity chief Pawan Khera had earlier said, “We are not playing with America and China. We are the ball.”

However, the government said the new MDR is not charged to consumers. As per the decision announced on Tuesday (September 15, 2026), merchant transactions above ₹2,000 will be subject to a 0.4% charge from October 15, while face-to-face transactions and small payments will remain free.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate rejected the government’s stand, saying the move would ultimately increase costs for common users. It said that a transaction worth ₹5,000 will attract a fee of ₹20 and a transaction of ₹10,000 a fee of ₹40, and claimed that the decision was taken at the behest of US companies.

Ms. Shrinate also asked why the government and the Reserve Bank of India could not bear the cost of running the UPI ecosystem and sought an assurance that the charges would not subsequently be extended to other transactions.

Published – 16 Sep 2026 20:29 IST