"54 times": Jairam Ramesh takes jibe at Trump's "good friend" in New Delhi on his claims of halting India-Pak conflict

New Delhi [India], October 29 (ANI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday took a subtle dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over US President Donald Trump's repeated assertions of stopping the military escalation between India and Pakistan in May, claiming the US leader has made the boast "54 times" across multiple countries.

In a post on X, the Congress MP shared a video clip of Trump's latest remarks on the matter, where the US President claimed to have 'stopped' the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan and asserted that "seven brand new beautiful planes were shot down".

Ramesh also took a subtle jibe at PM Modi, stating that the Prime Minister "does not want to hug" the US President anymore due to such claims, while calling him Trump's "good friend in New Delhi".

"So far he has said it 54 times. He has said it in the US, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UK. He has said it mid-flight and on land. Now President Trump has said it again, while addressing business leaders in Japan last evening. No wonder his good friend in New Delhi does not want to hug him any more," the Congress leader wrote in his post.

Ramesh's remarks come hours after Trump, while delivering remarks at a dinner with business leaders during his visit to Japan, asserted that he had stopped the conflict through trade.

"A lot of the wars that I stopped were because of tariffs, and frankly, I did a great service to the world but because of tariffs because of trade. If you look at India and Pakistan, they were going at it. Seven planes were shot down. Seven brand-new beautiful planes were shot down and they were going at it - at two big nuclear powers," he said.

Trump also called PM Modi a "very nice man" and a "very good man", while claiming that he has called both the Prime Minister and Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir to stop the conflict, or the US would not do trade with them.

"And I said to Prime Minister Modi - the Prime Minister very nice man, a very good man, and the Field Marshal over in Pakistan. I said, Look, we're not going to do any trade if you're going to be fighting," he said.

India has consistently refuted the claims made by the US President, stressing that the decision of "cessation of hostilities" with Pakistan was reached through direct diplomatic engagement between the two nations, and no third party was involved.

It was India's long-standing position that any issue with Pakistan, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir, is to be resolved bilaterally between the two countries.

India's Operation Sindoor, initiated on May 7, in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent civilians, showcased a calibrated, tri-services response that embodied precision, professionalism, and purpose. Operation Sindoor was conceived as a punitive and targeted campaign to dismantle the terror infrastructure across the Line of Control and deeper inside Pakistan. (ANI)

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