Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “tell the nation what transpired in the meeting between him and the US President” at the SCO Summit in Osaka after Donald Trump on Monday claimed that he was asked by Modi to act as a “mediator” in the Kashmir issue.
Launching a scathing attack on the Prime Minister for the first time after NDA-led BJP formed the new government, Gandhi said “if Modi has actually asked Trump to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir”, then he has “betrayed” India’s interests and the 1972 Simla Agreement.
He further said a “weak” Foreign Ministry denial was just not enough and that the PM must speak out the truth.
President Trump says PM Modi asked him to mediate between India & Pakistan on Kashmir!
If true, PM Modi has betrayed India’s interests & 1972 Shimla Agreement.
A weak Foreign Ministry denial won’t do. PM must tell the nation what transpired in the meeting between him & @POTUS
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 23, 2019
The Centre, earlier in the day, “categorically assured” the Parliament that Prime Minister Narendra Modi never made a request, as claimed by US President Donald Trump, to mediate in the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.
Donald Trump on Monday dropped a bombshell when he said that he has been asked by PM Modi to mediate in the Kashmir issue, much to the shock of India and US lawmakers alike.
Speaking to reporters before his meeting in the White House with Pakistan PM Imran Khan, Trump asserted that during his meeting with Modi in Osaka, “We talked about the subject, (and) he actually said, ‘Would you like to mediate or arbitrate?’ I said, ‘Where,?’ (and he said) ‘Kashmir’.”
As per the 1972 Simla Agreement, India has time and again maintained that it will not have a third party involvement in the Kashmir issue, which it sees as a bilateral matter with Pakistan.
Despite this, Trump chose to put himself in a neutral position equating India and Pakistan.
Earlier, the Congress dared Modi to “wake up” and call Trump’s a “bluff”.