New Delhi: After embarrassing the Bharatiya Janata Party government, admitting to a global audience in the US capital that India had acquiesced to US President Donald Trump’s demands to not buy Iranian and Russian oil and accepted the initial tariff of 50%, one of the most prominent faces of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Ram Madhav was forced to quickly backtrack and say he “was wrong.” Earlier, speaking at an interactive session at the New India Conference organised by the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. in a panel discussion, Madhav had said; “India agreed to stop buying oil from Iran. We agreed to stop buying oil from Russia despite so much criticism from our opposition. India agreed to a 50% tariff without saying too much. So where exactly is India not doing enough to work with America?” Ram Madhav’s initial admission of India giving in to the US assumes credence as he is regarded as the one in the RSS most qualified to speak on foreign affairs. His recent book, The Hindutva Paradigm, is seen as the latest exposition of the RSS’s world view, and burnishes Madhav’s credentials as the go-to person in the Sangh for ‘global affairs’.Madhav, the president of The India Foundation, was once also seen as a rival to Narendra Modi in the Sangh universe before disassociating himself from an active role in the BJP. Today, Madhav said he was “factually incorrect” and apologised. “What I said was wrong. India didn’t agree to stopping import of oil from Russia anytime. Also, it vigorously protested 50% tariff imposition. I was trying to make a limited counterpoint to d [the] other panelist. But factually incorrect. My apologies.”What I said was wrong. India didn’t agree to stopping import of oil from Russia anytime. Also it vigorously protested 50 percent tariff imposition. I was trying to make a limited counterpoint to d other panelist. But factually incorrect. My apologies. https://t.co/D3VNkYJ7pU— Ram Madhav (@rammadhav_) April 24, 2026In the aftermath of President Trump’s racist rant against India and China, with the government of Narendra Modi issuing a tepid response and being unable to name either Trump or exactly point out to the details of his offensive social media post, Ram Madhav’s comments came more sharply into focus. The conference, intended to give space to the RSS instead came into focus for establishing what the opposition and other observers have maintained, that the Modi government has bartered India’s sovereignty and accepted unreasonable demands of President Trump, and to India’s detriment.Ram Madhav ‘s backpedaling has led to the video being withheld on the site, clearly to prevent it from going viral, but it still remains on other social media platforms. Watch @rammadhav_‘s comments from -2:54.41LIVE FULL PROGRAM: The New India Conference | Hudson Institute https://t.co/pjeGfG92BY— Sreemoy Talukdar (@sreemoytalukdar) April 23, 2026Ram Madhav was speaking alongside Ambassador Kurt Campbell and Elizabeth Threlkeld at the Hudson Institute’s New India Conference on ‘New Paths Forward for U.S.-India Relations.’The Hindu American Foundation has expressed a sense of injury at Trump’s racist rant about India, and India’s official statement – not naming Trump – has led to call outs and anger in the opposition for a pusillanimous response. Trump has over a hundred times in the past year, claimed credit for the ceasefire between India and Pakistan after its short four-day long war in May, 2025, but the Indian prime minister has refused to name him and has avoided facing Trump at many opportunities since, too.Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, has said multiple times that Trump compelled Modi to “surrender” during the India-Pakistan conflict.“Narendra’s surrender policy on full display here! BJP and RSS leader Ram Madhav, justifying the Modi government’s appeasement policy and exposing the disastrous foreign policy of ‘vishwaguru’. Once slaves of the British, now RSS wants to become American slaves!” the Congress wrote on X in response to Madhav’s remarks now.“Thank you [Ram Madhav] for proving our point and exposing the compromised PM Modi completely,” another Congress handle said.“This statement is an admission of pledging India’s sovereignty at America’s feet; from this admission, it has become clear that the BJP government has enslaved India by pledging it at America’s feet, and the BJP government has dealt a massive betrayal to the country’s people and India itself,” the Samajwadi Party said.The Video was for people in the USA. Tweet is for people in India. https://t.co/UNYSw8wMJQ— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) April 24, 2026Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, often described as Mohan Bhagwat’s successor for the top job at India’s most powerful unregistered NGO that is the ideological parent of the BJP and plays a keen role in politics, described the RSS as a volunteer-driven movement at the Institute, saying that the RSS was rooted in India’s cultural and civilisational ethos. Hosabale said that it was not a Hindu supremacist organisation. Dhirendra K Jha, author and researcher on the RSS and other wings of Hindutva, has said that the organisation has been “pro-America” since 1947, and helped provide successive US governments with an alternative to the then-dominant Congress party.