Rahul Gandhi (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday latched on to US President Donald Trump’s statement on the recent India-Pakistan conflict and attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the PM stopped military action within five hours of Trump’s 24-hour ultimatum.The Lok Saha leader of opposition claimed that Trump dialled PM Modi and said: Sunn…yeh jo tu kar raha hai isko 24 ghante ke ander band kar aur Narendra Modi ne paanch ghante ke ander saara ka saara rok diya. (Listen… whatever you’re doing, stop it within 24 hours, and Narendra Modi stopped everything within five hours.) Trump, once again on Wednesday, without offering substantial proof, claimed that he brokered a truce between India and Pakistan by using trade as leverage. Addressing a cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump claimed he had spoken with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he described as a “terrific man.” “I’m talking to a very terrific man, Modi of India. I said, what’s going on with you and Pakistan? Then I spoke to Pakistan about trade. I said, what’s going on with you and India? This has been going on for a hell of a long time, sometimes under different names for hundreds of years,” the US president said without clearly stating if he spoke to the PM amid Operation Sindoor or after India’s military action. External affairs minister S Jaishankar, during the Monsoon Session, has already debunked Trump’s incessant claims that he spoke to PM Modi amid Operation Sindoor.Jaishankar said in the Lok Sabha that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump did not have any calls between April 22 (when the US leader called New Delhi to express condolences for the Pahalgam terror attack) and June 17 (when the Indian leader was in Canada for the G20 Summit).He futher said: “But I said, what’s going on? I said, I don’t want to make a trade deal…. I said, no, no, I don’t want to make a trade deal with you. You’re going to have a nuclear war. You guys are going to end up in a nuclear war. And that was very important to them. I said, call me back tomorrow, but we’re not going to do any deals with you, or we’re going to put tariffs on you that are so high. I don’t give a damn. Your head’s going to spin. You’re not going to end up in a war. Within about five hours, it was done. It was done. Now maybe it starts again, I don’t know. I don’t think so. But I’ll stop it if it does. We can’t let these things happen.” The US President’s claims, however, appear outright hollow with regard to India, as Washington has imposed a hefty 50 per cent tariff on New Delhi despite the government agreeing to pause Operation Sindoor at Pakistan’s DMGO’s request.Trump claimed that the bumped-up tariff on India is meant to restrain New Delhi from buying Russian crude oil, which he claims has been fueling Moscow’s war against Ukraine.Even PM Modi during the debate on Operation Sindoor in Lok Sabha said that no world leader had asked India to pause Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, in a clear refutation of US President Donald Trump’s repeated statements that he leaned on the two inimical neighbours to cease hostilities on May 10. “No world leader asked for suspension of Operation Sindoor,” the PM said. Modi’s assertion came in response to the opposition’s taunt that he should show the courage and call the US president out if he had made a false claim. Go to Source
