Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took a sharp swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, questioning his “friendship and huglomacy” with former U.S. President Donald Trump in light of Trump’s latest claim that five jets were shot down during an India-Pakistan standoff allegedly resolved through U.S. trade pressure.
In a post on X, Ramesh demanded that PM Modi issue a clear statement in Parliament on Trump’s repeated assertions. “The sensational new revelation by President Trump this time around is that five jets may have been downed,” Ramesh wrote. “The Prime Minister, who has had years of friendship and huglomacy with President Trump going back to Howdy Modi in 2019 and Namaste Trump in 2020, has to now himself make a clear and categorical statement in Parliament on what President Trump has been claiming over the past 70 days.”
Ramesh’s remarks come just ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, as Trump again reiterated his role in halting an India-Pakistan conflict—this time claiming that five fighter jets were downed before the U.S. intervened to de-escalate the situation using trade leverage.
In a speech earlier, Trump said, “India and Pakistan were going at it. Five jets were shot down. It was getting worse. We stopped it through trade—we told them, no deal unless there’s a ceasefire.”
Ramesh pointed out that Trump has now repeated the same claims over two dozen times, with consistent messaging: that the U.S. prevented a nuclear war and used trade negotiations as leverage.
“Just two days before Parliament begins, the Trump missile gets fired for the 24th time with the same two messages: 1. The US stopped a nuclear war. 2. No trade deal if the war continued,” Ramesh said, questioning India’s silence on Trump’s recurring narrative.
Trump’s latest comments were made during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, where he again claimed that without his intervention, the India-Pakistan standoff could have escalated into a nuclear conflict following the Pahalgam terror attack.
The Congress MP’s remarks underscore growing opposition pressure on the Modi government to clarify its diplomatic dealings with Trump, particularly regarding sensitive national security issues involving Pakistan.