Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being “scared” of US President Donald Trump and demanded that he publicly deny Trump’s “false” claim of brokering peace between India and Pakistan. Speaking at a joint rally in poll-bound Bihar’s Darbhanga, Gandhi alleged that Modi’s silence over Trump’s repeated remarks was “an insult” to India’s sovereignty. Trump has claimed that he personally intervened to stop the fighting between India and Pakistan in May following Operation Sindoor, a claim New Delhi has consistently refuted.
Addressing a rally alongside RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi owed the country a clear response. “Why is the Prime Minister silent? If Trump is lying, say it. Say it in Parliament,” Gandhi said. “Modiji is scared of Donald Trump. If he has the courage, he will say here that Donald Trump is a liar,” Gandhi added, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that he used trade and tariff pressure to push both India and Pakistan towards a ceasefire during hostilities in May that erupted after Operation Sindoor. India has maintained that the ceasefire understanding was achieved bilaterally, without any third-party intervention.
Operation Sindoor, launched on 7 May, was India’s retaliatory strike on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the 22 April terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which left 26 people dead.
This is not the first time the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha has attacked the Prime Minister over Trump’s claims. During the July Parliament debate on Operation Sindoor, Gandhi had made similar remarks, challenging Modi to confront Trump directly.
“If he has the courage, he will say here that Donald Trump is a liar. 50% India Gandhi ka courage hai toh ye bol dega,” Gandhi had said in Parliament, before quickly correcting himself -“bol denge, sorry.”
The Congress leader accused the Modi government of “failing to protect India’s dignity on the global stage” and claimed that Trump’s statements had gone unchallenged because of the Prime Minister’s fear of upsetting Washington.
“India does not need Donald Trump to tell us when to fight or when to stop,” Gandhi said in Darbhanga. “We have our own strength, our own government, and our own people. The Prime Minister must answer to India, not to Trump.”
