Congress hits out at Modi govt after Trump repeats claim of halting India–Pakistan conflict.
Jairam Ramesh says India’s expected US trade deal has turned into an “ordeal.”
Party questions India missing Quad Summit as exports to US decline.
The Congress on Monday criticised the Modi government after former US President Donald Trump once again claimed that he halted a potential conflict between India and Pakistan through trade pressure, reported PTI.
He further remarked that India was once expected to be among the first countries to sign a trade agreement with the United States, but that “supposed deal has become an ordeal while exports to the US decline, leading to the loss of livelihoods here.”
Ramesh also referred to Trump’s repeated assertions regarding what the former president calls “Operation Sindoor”, which he claims he stopped through trade negotiations. “Meanwhile, President Trump has repeated for the 57th time why and how Operation Sindoor was suddenly and unexpectedly halted, with the first announcement of that halt coming from Washington and not New Delhi,” the Congress leader said.
Sharing a video clip of Trump’s recent interview with a US television network, Ramesh pointed to the former president’s comments: “If it wasn’t for tariffs and trade, I would not have been able to make the deals. As an example, India does a lot of business with us. They were going to have a nuclear war with Pakistan. The prime minister of Pakistan stood up the other day and said if Donald Trump did not get involved, many millions of people would have been dead right now.”
Trump added, “Shot down planes all over the place... that was going to be a bad war and I told both of them that, ‘if you guys don’t work out a deal fast, you are not going to do any business with the US and they do a lot of business with the US, and they were both great leaders and they worked out a deal and they stopped the war. It would have been a nuclear war.’”
The Congress has in recent days intensified its criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Trump’s repeated statements. “The self-styled but now thoroughly shrunken and deeply exposed 56-inch chest is still quiet,” the opposition party said last week.
According to PTI, Trump also reiterated the same claim during his address to world leaders at the United Nations in September.
India, for its part, has consistently maintained that the agreement to cease hostilities with Pakistan was achieved through direct discussions between the Directors General of Military Operations of both countries.
(With inputs from PTI)
