Congress on Thursday used US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks and engagements with Islamabad to question the government’s foreign policy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal diplomacy.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, mocked Modi’s earlier bonhomie with Trump, writing: “Namaste Trump ka kya huwa? Howdy Modi ka kya huwa? Huglomacy ka kya huwa? Dost dost na raha…” (What happened to 'Namaste Trump'? What happened to 'Howdy Modi'? What happened to 'Huglomacy'? Friends are no longer friends.)
“Look at what President Trump has done so far since mid-May 2025 — he has claimed 45 times in four different countries, including at the UN, that he brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan that led to the abrupt halt to Operation Sindoor,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh accused Trump of undermining India’s interests by hosting Pakistan’s Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House, strengthening US-Pakistan ties, imposing punitive tariffs on Indian exports, destabilising the H-1B visa regime, and penalising India over its trade with Russia.
At its working committee meeting chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress adopted a resolution expressing concern over what it called the “collapse” of India’s foreign policy.
The resolution alleged that the Modi government had squandered India’s strategic autonomy, oscillating between “appeasing the US and tilting towards China.”
It further claimed that Trump coerced India into halting Operation Sindoor through trade threats but still went ahead with steep tariffs on Indian exports, a harsher H-1B visa regime, and deportations.
“Lakhs of Indian citizens find their future in the US at risk because of the Trump administration’s hostile changes to the H-1B visa policy,” the resolution said.
Kharge added, “The very friends whom Modi boasts about as ‘my friends’ are today putting India in numerous troubles.”
Trump has accused India along with China of being “primary funders” of the Ukraine war by purchasing Russian oil. His administration recently imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports, taking the total levy to 50 per cent, and introduced a one-time $100,000 fee on H-1B visas.
India rejected the measures as “unjustified” and vowed to safeguard its national interests and economic security.
Amid the escalating tensions, a senior US state department official reiterated Washington’s position on Trump’s UN address.
“It is a fact that the United States was involved in that crisis and absolutely helped broker that ceasefire,” the official noted.
The official also said that Kashmir remains a “direct issue” between India and Pakistan.
“It is a longstanding policy of the US that Kashmir is a direct issue between India and Pakistan. If the US is asked to offer its good offices on any issue, it is ready to help,” the official said.
The official added: “We leave that (issue of Kashmir) up to India and Pakistan to solve. We have no interest in asserting ourselves between India and Pakistan.”