In a fresh political exchange, the Congress party on Thursday, 6 November 2025, ridiculed the Modi government following another claim by United States President Donald Trump asserting that India and Pakistan “made peace” after his threat to impose trade tariffs.

According to Congress, this marks the 58th instance where the American President has repeated the same story since May this year.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh took to the social media platform X to highlight the repetition. Quoting a list of global cities where President Trump had made his remarks, he remarked pointedly, “What unites Washington DC, Riyadh, Doha, London, The Hague, Sharm-al-Sheikh, Tokyo, Air Force One, and now Miami? These are all places where President Trump has declared that he used trade and tariffs to stop Operation Sindoor.”

Ramesh’s comment was accompanied by a video clip of Trump’s latest address at the America Business Forum in Miami. In the speech, President Trump recounted how his intervention, through the leverage of trade deals, supposedly pressured India and Pakistan to cease hostilities.

The President recalled reading reports of an aerial conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations, claiming that “seven planes were shot down, and the eighth was badly wounded.” He stated that upon learning of the escalating situation, he halted trade negotiations and warned both sides that the United States would not proceed with any agreements while they were at war.

Trump continued that within a day, he received a call from both capitals declaring that peace had been achieved, drawing applause from the American audience.

Operation Sindoor, the military campaign he referred to, was launched by India on 7 May 2025 against terrorist infrastructure within Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. The operation was a decisive response to the 22 April terror attack in Pahalgam that claimed numerous lives.

After four days of intense cross-border engagement, an understanding was reached on 10 May to halt active operations.

Since then, President Trump has repeatedly narrated his account of having mediated this ceasefire, often linking it to his trade negotiation strategy. His claim of personal credit for ending the conflict has become a recurring theme in his public addresses across various international forums.

India, on its part, has consistently denied any suggestion of third-party mediation in matters concerning Pakistan. The Ministry of External Affairs has reaffirmed that all issues with Islamabad are to be resolved bilaterally, in line with the Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration.

The Congress party, seizing on Trump’s repeated assertions, used the episode to criticise what it considers the Modi government’s silence over the matter. Ramesh suggested that the government’s lack of rebuttal has allowed misleading narratives about India’s sovereignty to persist on the global stage.

Trump’s narrative, while resonating with his domestic audience as an example of his self-styled deal-making prowess, continues to generate irritation in New Delhi. Indian officials privately view such statements as diplomatically careless, likely to fuel misperceptions about the nature of India’s foreign policy autonomy and its firm stance against external mediation.

For the Congress, however, this recurring episode provides a convenient opportunity to corner the ruling government, invoking themes of diplomatic complacency and image management in India’s engagement with Washington.

Agencies