Congress slams govt over Trump’s lunch with Pak Army Chief Munir, BJP hits back

The Congress on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must immediately chair an all-party meeting upon his return from his three-nation tour to brief leaders on what he has told US President Donald Trump in a telephonic conversation and take the nation into confidence.

The opposition party also termed as a “huge setback” Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir’s scheduled lunch with Trump, and said the PM should have conveyed India’s displeasure on it to the US president during their telephonic conversation.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh asserted that if Indira Gandhi would have been the prime minister she would definitely have conveyed her displeasure to whoever the US President would have been.

Ramesh also urged the government to form a “Pahalgam Review Committee” on the lines of the Kargil Review Committee that was set up three days after the Kargil War and was chaired by K Subrahmanyam, father of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

He said the Prime Minister must rebut in Parliament Trump’s claims of using trade as an instrument for mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

The Congress leader said the Modi government’s diplomacy must depend less on optics and more on substance.

Ramesh’s remarks came after Modi spoke with President Trump and set the record straight that India had paused strikes on Pakistan during Operation Sindoor following a request from Islamabad and not due to mediation or offer of a trade deal by the US.

On Trump’s scheduled lunch with Munir, Ramesh said, “This is a triple jhatka for Indian diplomacy. Today, Field Marshal Munir, whose incendiary, inflammatory, provocative and unacceptable remarks formed the background to the Pahalgam terror attack, is set to have lunch with President Trump. The same military man who is not the head of government is being invited for a special one-on-one lunch with President Trump. This is a huge setback.”

“The second huge setback came when US General Michael Kurilla, the US Central Command Chief, had declared Pakistan to be a ‘phenomenal partner’ in counter terror operations. Same Pakistan that gave sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden who was killed in May 2, 2011 in Abbottabad. How does Pakistan become a phenomenal partner? Pakistan is a phenomenal perpetrator. To call a perpetrator partner is a setback for Indian diplomacy,” Ramesh said.

He said the third setback was President Trump 14 times claiming credit for pausing Operation Sindoor and having a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

The BJP said that PM Modi’s conversation with US President Donald Trump on Operation Sindoor has “busted” every lie of the Congress, stating that if the opposition party does not believe in this, then it should be considered a “partner” of Pakistan.

BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said, “The Congress and its troll army simply can’t digest the fact that Prime Minister Modi told President Trump in clear terms — India neither needs nor accepts any third-party mediation.”

“The Congress must stop maligning India’s firm and principled foreign policy just to feed its petty narratives,” he said in a post on X.

“Every Congress lie has been busted,” said BJP’s Shehzad Poonawalla, lambasting the main opposition party.

Hitting back, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said Modi made it clear to Trump that no third country mediated and that India gave a befitting reply to Pakistan.

“If Pakistan fires bullets, India will respond with bombs. Even after that, if Congress does not believe in India’s stand, then it should be believed that Pakistan and Congress are team partners,” he alleged.

Malviya alleged that under the Congress, India was seen as a “weak, third-world country”. “Today, India is a rising power — a bright star in the global order. No amount of lies can dim that truth.”

He also accused Ramesh of being a “congenital liar, much like Rahul Gandhi” after the Congress leader cited a January 2025 readout from the White House as the US statement on Modi’s latest conversation with Trump.

Poonwalla said in a swipe at the Congress, “Shame on Congress. They are not INC but PNC: Pakistani National Congress.”

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