The country’s main Opposition party on Wednesday asked if the Narendra Modi government had mortgaged India's security interests in the face of US pressure after Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday once again claimed his administration had "successfully brokered a historic ceasefire" to stop the spiralling conflict between India and Pakistan.
"A few days ago we learnt of the ceasefire with Pakistan from the President of the United States. Now, at a public event in Saudi Arabia yesterday, the President reveals that he may have coerced and blackmailed India into this ceasefire using the carrot-and-stick of sanctions and trade deals," Jairam Ramesh, Congress’s general secretary in-charge of communications, wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Wednesday morning.
"What do the typically loquacious PM and EAM have to say about this revelation? Did they mortgage India's security interests in the face of US pressure?" Ramesh said on X.
"Ameriki papa ne war rukwa di kya?" he added.
That was a snide reference to a promotional video that was posted on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official Youtube channel in March 2024 last year that implied India had intervened to halt the war between Ukraine and Russia for the evacuation of Indian students in Ukraine.
The Congress on Tuesday night had said Trump was not only hyphenating the two countries but also comparing Prime Minister Modi with his Pakistani counterpart, Shehbaz Sharif.
The Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera shared the clip of Trump's latest comments during the event in Saudi Arabia.
"US president says it again: 'I used trade to make a deal between them, and they agreed'. Not only is Donald Trump hyphenating India with Pakistan, he is comparing Prime Minister Modi with Shehbaz Sharif," he said in the caption.
He asked if such a comparison was acceptable to the Prime Minister’s Office.
In his remarks at the Saudi-US investment forum in Riyadh, Trump said, "As I said in my inaugural address, my greatest hope is to be a peacemaker and to be a unifier. I don't like war. We have the greatest military, by the way, in the history of the world."
"Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan," claimed Trump, who is in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of his four-day trip to the Gulf region.
"And I used trade to a large extent to do it. And I said, 'Fellows, come on. Let's make a deal. Let's do some trading'," Trump said to applause from the high-level audience, which included billionaire Elon Musk.
"'Let's not trade nuclear missiles. Let's trade the things that you make so beautifully. And they both have very powerful leaders, very strong leaders, good leaders, smart leaders. And it all stopped. Hopefully, it'll remain that way, but it all stopped," Trump said.
A day earlier, Trump had claimed that his administration stopped a "nuclear conflict" between India and Pakistan, telling the south Asian neighbours that America would do a "lot of trade" with them if they ended hostilities.
India has been at pains to underline that an understanding – and not a ceasefire – was reached on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.
Indian government sources in New Delhi have maintained that the directors general of military operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea and that no third party was involved.
Trump had announced India and Pakistan agreed to a "full and immediate ceasefire" and claimed that it happened after a long night of talks "mediated by the United States".
The Union ministry of external affairs on Tuesday made it clear that the Kashmir issue to be a bilateral matter and that there is no space for any third party. It asserted that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh are and will always be integral and inalienable parts of India.