The Congress on Tuesday accused US President Donald Trump of not only “hyphenating” India and Pakistan but also drawing parallels between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif. The opposition party’s criticism came after Trump, while addressing an investment forum in Saudi Arabia, reiterated his claim of having “successfully brokered” a “ceasefire” between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Pawan Khera, head of the Congress media and publicity department, shared a clip of Trump’s latest remarks, writing, “US president says it again: 'I used trade to make a deal between them, and they agreed'. Not only is Donald Trump hyphenating India with Pakistan, he is comparing Prime Minister Modi with Shehbaz Sharif.”
The senior Congress leader also questioned whether such a comparison was acceptable to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Praveen Chakravarty, chairman of the Professionals’ Congress and Data Analytics department, took a sharper swipe, remarking, “'Pakistan's prime minister and India's prime minister are equal. Pakistan and India are equal powers'. Who is saying this? Prime Minister Modi's 'good friend' President Trump.”
Meanwhile, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also weighed in, posting a sardonic comment on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, saying, “This narrative wasn’t part of the syllabus.”
Trump, speaking at the Saudi-US investment forum in Riyadh, claimed his administration had “successfully brokered a historic ceasefire” between India and Pakistan to halt escalating violence. “As I said in my inaugural address, my greatest hope is to be a peacemaker and to be a unifier. I don't like war. We have the greatest military, by the way, in the history of the world,” Trump declared to an audience that included billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
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He went on to describe his approach to the alleged ceasefire negotiations, saying, “Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan. And I used trade to a large extent to do it. And I said, 'Fellows, come on. Let's make a deal. Let's do some trading'. Let's not trade nuclear missiles. Let's trade the things that you make so beautifully.”
The former US president also praised the leaders of both countries, saying, “And they both have very powerful leaders, very strong leaders, good leaders, smart leaders. And it all stopped. Hopefully, it’ll remain that way, but it all stopped.”
A day earlier, Trump had claimed that his administration prevented a “nuclear conflict” between India and Pakistan, telling the two South Asian neighbours that the United States would engage in “a lot of trade” with them if they ceased hostilities.
However, Indian government sources in New Delhi have dismissed the notion of external mediation, asserting that the directors general of military operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan reached an understanding on their own to halt all military actions on land, air, and sea, without third-party involvement.
Trump later posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, offering to work with India and Pakistan for a “solution” on Kashmir, while crediting the US for helping the two nations reach a “historic and heroic decision” to halt the conflict.
India has consistently maintained that the Kashmir dispute is a bilateral issue with no role for third-party intervention, affirming that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral and inalienable parts of the country.
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