The Congress on Tuesday said that U.S. President Donald Trump has, for at least the 21st time, repeated his claim of having brokered a 'ceasefire' between India and Pakistan, and questioned when Prime Minister Narendra Modi would break his silence on the matter.
In remarks made on Monday, President Trump once again stated that the United States had prevented an escalation of hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbours by leveraging potential trade consequences.
According to Trump, Washington warned both countries that trade ties would be halted if the fighting continued.
“For at least the 21st time in the past 59 days, President Trump has claimed that he ‘stopped the four-day India-Pakistan war in May’, which, according to him, was on the verge of escalating into a nuclear confrontation,” said Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh.
Ramesh said the US President had portrayed himself as using a 'carrot-and-stick' approach, offering trade as an incentive for peace while simultaneously threatening economic disengagement.
“In effect, his message was: stop the war or face the loss of access to the American market,” Ramesh said, questioning the Prime Minister’s continued silence.
“When will Narendra Modi, once described by a senior BJP colleague as the party’s ‘trump card’, break his silence on this issue?” he asked.
Trump, who was addressing a gathering on Monday, also claimed that the US was close to finalising a trade agreement with India.
“We’ve made a deal with the United Kingdom, we’ve made a deal with China. We’re close to making a deal with India,” he said, adding that the US had chosen not to engage with countries unwilling to accept its terms.