The Congress on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the US President Donald Trump once again claimed credit for ending hostilities between India and Pakistan last year, saying the number of times Trump has made the assertion has now reached 70.
The opposition party’s reaction followed Trump’s remarks at a press conference in Washington, where he listed ending what he described as “unendable wars”, including between India and Pakistan, among the achievements of the first year of his second term.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said that until recently the count stood at 68, but had risen to 70 after Trump repeated the claim twice on Tuesday, once in his opening statement and again during a question-and-answer session.
Ramesh said these were the number of occasions on which the Prime Minister’s “good friend” had claimed responsibility for the “sudden and unexpected halt” of Operation Sindoor on May 10, 2025.
At the press conference, Trump said that India and Pakistan were “really going at it” and that, in his view, the conflict could have escalated into a nuclear exchange. He claimed that his intervention saved millions of lives, adding that he had brought an end to “eight unendable wars” in 10 months.
Later, responding to a question on the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump said that preventing escalation between India and Pakistan alone may have saved 10 to 20 million lives. He reiterated similar claims with respect to other conflicts across the world.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that the United States mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, announcing on social media on May 10 last year that the two countries had agreed to an immediate halt to hostilities following talks facilitated by Washington.
India, however, has consistently maintained that there was no third-party mediation in its engagements with Pakistan.