Opposition Questions Modi’s “Diplomatic Win” over Telephonic Talks with Donald Trump
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 18: The opposition parties including the Congress has questioned the government’s claims as a “diplomatic win” of the Prime Minster Narendra Modi having firmly rebutted the US president Donal Trump’s repeated assertions of negotiating the India-Pakistan ceasefire at the height of the “Operation Sindoor” launched by India in retaliation of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 tourists were killed in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh labelled as “triple jhatka” the government’s claims to this effect and demanded to know if the Prime Minster during his telephonic conversation with Mr Trump on Wednesday morning had raised the issue that the Pakistan chief of the army staff Asim Munir was directly responsible for the Phalgam terror attack due to his inflammatory speeches earlier.
The Congress said the call, claimed as a diplomatic win by the government, and its context were actually a ‘triple jolt’ to India. The big ‘jhatka‘, it said, was that it took place even as he visiting Pakistan army chief was scheduled to have lunch with Mr Trump in the White House later in the day. “Asim Munir, the man whose inflammatory, incendiary, and provocative remarks were linked directly to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attacks, is having lunch with President Trump in the White House.”
“Is this why President Trump abandoned the G7 Summit a day early…” Mr Ramesh asked on X, demanding to know if Mr Modi had raised this issue in his conversation with the American leader. “He (the PM) should have made the US President aware of the direct link between Asim Munir’s absolutely unacceptable remarks… which gave oxygen to the Pahalgam terrorists.”
General Munir was condemned in India for inflammatory and outrageous comments days before the Pahalgam terror attack; the Pak Army chief had described Kashmir as Pakistan’s “jugular vein.” The remarks were flagged by Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who said the terrorists who killed 26 people based on their faith, had been driven by General Munir’s “extreme religious outlook.”
Even though Mr Modi managed to avoid meeting Mr Trump a few hours ahead Trump-Munir lunch by refusing the US president’s invitation to drop at Washington on his way back from Canada, the Congress said Gen Munir being in the US at this time – while Mr Modi and Mr Trump spoke about the terror attack orchestrated by the Pak deep state – reflected poorly on India.
Mr Ramesh also referred to the repeated claims (14 by Mr Ramesh’s count) by Mr Trump of having mediated for India-Pakistan ceasefire, and remarks by a top American general about Islamabad being a ‘phenomenal’ partner in counter-terror operations.’ These combined, Mr Ramesh, declared, constituted a “triple jhatka“. “… Indian diplomacy is being shattered and the PM is totally silent,” he said, demanding the PM summon and brief Parliament, in detail, on this phone conversation with President Trump.
“For 37 days the Prime Minister did not say anything… today we are told he had a 35-minute call with President Trump… (who) has also put out a statement from the White House. There is a difference between the two statements… Why cannot the PM call an all-party meet (and) say the same thing (he told Mr Trump) in Parliament. Take opposition leaders into confidence and say the same thing…”
The Congress leader was not the only one to raise questions over the details of the Modi – Trump telephonic conversation as announced by the Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. Shiv Sena UBT’s Sanjay Raut said Mr Trump needed to “tweet about it (that the US had no role in the ceasefire) and say he takes back his words.”
Mr Ramesh’s broadside was countered by the BJP’s Amit Malviya, who called the Congress leader “a congenital liar – much like Rahul Gandhi”. The taunt was aimed at the claim the US had released a readout of the call with the PM. As of 1.40 pm, Mr Malviya said, no statement had been released.
“He is now peddling yet another falsehood, claiming that Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s statement doesn’t match the US readout – while dramatically waving his phone around.” “But here is the catch: the readout he is citing is from January 2025! There is no official US release yet on the latest call,” he declared, “The Congress and its troll army simply cannot digest the fact PM Modi told President Trump in clear terms – India neither needs nor accepts any third-party mediation.”
Earlier, India potentially avoided an undesirable situation by declining Mr Trump’s invitation for Mr Modi for a brief stopover in the United States, as that would have meant the President meeting the PM and later Pakistan army chief Asim Munir on the same day.
The White House announced earlier on Wednesday that Trump would be hosting Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir for lunch in the White House Cabinet Room on Wednesday at 1 pm Eastern Time Zone. Before this, in a call on Tuesday, President Trump invited Mr Modi to do a stopover in Washington to meet him. Modi declined the invite, saying he had a prior commitment to visit Croatia, and left Canada at around 6 pm local time on Tuesday. If Modi did indeed travel to the US, he would have been in Washington post midnight local time on Wednesday.
This would have meant that the Modi-Trump meeting would also have been on Wednesday, perhaps a breakfast engagement, followed by the US President meeting Asim Munir over lunch. New Delhi surely would have wanted to avoid a situation where India and Pakistan were hyphenated on US soil and avoided a comparison of India’s elected leader and Pakistan’s army general being hosted by Trump on the same day in the White House. India has de-hyphenated itself from Pakistan, like ensuring foreign leaders don’t visit India and Pakistan in the same trip.
