Government Hits out at Rahul, Priyanka for Demanding Modi to Call Trump a “Liar,” Reminds them of International Decorum
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 30: The Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and his sister and one of the Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were on Wednesday came under severe criticism from the government for their “childish demand” on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call in black and white the United States president Donald Trump “a liar.”
The Gandhi siblings on Wednesday during the debate on the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s subsequent response with “Operation Sindoor” in Parliament and later after Mr Modi’s intervention on the debate had questioned the Prime Minister’s silence on Mr Trump’s repeated claims of the US having brokered the peace between India and Pakistan by threatening to derail the trade tariff deal.
Mr Gandhi had said Mr Modi could not state that the US president was “lying” about the ceasefire because if he did so “the American leader will lay bare the truth.” Asked about Mr Trump’s latest remarks repeating his claims and that India is preparing to face higher U.S. tariffs between 20 and 25%, Mr Gandhi said, “It is obvious, the Prime Minister has not said that Trump is lying. It is obvious what has happened. Everyone knows, he is not able to say it. That is the reality.”
“If the Prime Minister says it, then he (Trump) will say openly and will lay bare the truth, so that is why the PM is not able to say anything,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said. Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also had said Prime Minister Modi should state clearly in Parliament that the U.S. President is lying. The remarks by the Gandhi siblings came after Mr Trump repeated his claim about playing a role in bringing about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
The senior government sources hit back at the Congress leaders stating “It’s adolescent on the part of Rahul to say the PM should call Trump a liar on the floor of the House,” adding that PM Modi had already clarified the matter by stating that “no world leader asked India to stop the war.”
Sources also underlined that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had previously informed Parliament that Trump and Modi never spoke regarding any such ceasefire, dismissing the claim altogether. They further pointed out that India and the US share a long-standing strategic partnership that goes beyond just trade negotiations.
“The Congress has been in power before, it should know how governments function,” one official added, urging restraint in matters of foreign policy discourse. Emphasising the depth of the bilateral relationship, sources cited US support to India during the Doklam crisis as a key example of the trust between the two nations, noting that reducing ties to a single statement undermines broader diplomatic realities.
Rahul Gandhi had earlier, during the Lok Sabha debate on Operation Sindoor, accused the PM of lacking the courage to rebut Trump’s repeated ceasefire claims and questioned India’s foreign policy handling of the Pahalgam terror attack. He also criticised the government’s terminology of a “new normal” in counter-terror strategy, and cited Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir’s visit to the US as evidence of diplomatic failure.
The Congress has been trying to corner Prime Minister Modi by citing Donald Trump’s repeated claims, made 30 times, that he had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan using trade as leverage. But the Prime Minister set the record straight on Tuesday. “On May 9, US Vice-President JD Vance tried to speak to me 3-4 times for over an hour, but I was in a meeting. When I called him back, he said Pakistan will do a very big attack. I replied to him—if Pakistan has this intention, toh usse bahut mehnga padega (it will cost them dearly). I told Vance that we will do a bigger attack than Pakistan…that hum goli ka jawab gole se denge (we will respond to bullets with shells),” the Prime Minister told the Lok Sabha.
Earlier, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had informed Parliament that President Trump and Prime Minister Modi never spoke during Operation Sindoor, and highlighted how the Prime Minister remained firm during his call with JD Vance.
Mr Jaishankar again on Wednesday clarified in the Rajya Sabha that no phone calls took place between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi from April 22 to June 16. “…Main unko kehna chahta hoon, woh kaan kholke sun le. 22 April se 16 June tak, ek bhi phone call President Trump aur Prime Minister Modi ke beech mein nahi hua. (I want to tell them to listen carefully: from April 22 to June 16, not a single phone call took place between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi)” Mr Jaishankar said.
He further emphasised India’s firm stance against mediation in India-Pakistan matters, asserting that any dialogue must be bilateral and that Pakistan must formally request a cessation of conflict through the DGMO. “…When Operation Sindoor commenced, a number of countries were in touch with us to see how serious the situation was and how long it would go… We gave the same message to all the countries… that we were not open to any mediation. Anything between us and Pakistan will only be bilateral… And that we were responding to the Pakistani attack, and we would keep responding. If that fighting was to stop, Pakistan must make a request. And that request could only come through the channel of the DGMO…,” Mr Jaishankar said.
The Minister also attacked the Congress while discussing India suspending the Indus Water Treaty after the Pahalgam terror attack stating that they were “uncomfortable with history.” He highlighted “mistakes” of the previous Congress governments in handling of the treaty while emphasising how essential this agreement was.
“The Indus Water Treaty in many ways is a very unique agreement. I cannot think of any agreement in the world where a country has allowed its major rivers to flow to the next country without having rights on that river. To recall the history of this event. Yesterday, I heard people, some people, are uncomfortable with history. They prefer that historical things be forgotten. Maybe it does not suit them, they only like to recall some things,” Mr Jaishankar said.
Further the EAM targeted Jawaharlal Nehru over his statement in Parliament back in 1960 regarding the treaty. “On November 30th 1960. He (Jawaharlal Nehru) says I would like to know if this house is to judge the quantum of supply of water or money to be given. People objected to that. PM also said, ‘Let me do this treaty for the interest of Pakistani Punjab, not a word about farmers of Kashmir or Punjab. Not a word about Rajasthan or Gujarat,” Mr Jaishankar said.
He also added that PM Modi has “corrected” Jawaharlal Nehru’s “mistakes” when it comes to handling the Indus Water Treaty and Article 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Defending the stand of the Gandhi siblings on Donald Trump’s claims, the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also said the prime minister did not “have the guts to tell Mr Trump that he is lying and that “daal mein kuch kala hai (there is something fishy).” “Our policy has been that we have never accepted any sort of mediation by a third party in negotiations, and it is unacceptable to us even today. Why did they agree? What were the reasons? They should tell the country,” Mr Kharge told reporters in the Parliament House complex. “He (Modi) did not take Trump’s name even once in his two-hour speech. He should have condemned Trump’s remarks and said that he is trying to distort the image of the country,” Mr Kharge said.
In a no-holds-barred attack in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had dared Prime Minister Modi to categorically rebut US President Trump’s India-Pakistan ceasefire claims. “If Modi ji has even 50 per cent of the courage that Indira Gandhi had, then clearly he must say in Parliament — Donald Trump is lying,” he had said.
Speaking with reporters after the debate ended, Mr Gandhi said, “Narendra Modi did not clearly say that Trump is lying. Trump has said 29 times that he brought about a ceasefire, but Narendra Modi did not respond to it.” Since May 10, when Mr Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire after a long night of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim on several occasions that he helped settle the tensions between India and Pakistan.
However, India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries. In a nearly 35-minute phone call with Mr Trump last month, PM Modi had firmly stated that India did not and would “never accept” mediation and that the discussions between Indian and Pakistani militaries on cessation of military actions were initiated at Islamabad’s request. However, even after that Mr Trump has repeated his claims umpteen times.
