The Congress party has sharply criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government following comments made by former US President Donald Trump. During a Gaza peace summit in Egypt, Trump lauded Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir, referring to him as his “favourite field marshal,” and gave preferential treatment to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Jairam Ramesh, the Congress general secretary in charge of communications, took to X (formerly Twitter) to question the signal Trump’s actions send to India, especially given Modi and Trump’s public declarations of friendship. Ramesh highlighted that Trump had previously hosted Munir for a significant lunch at the White House, despite Munir’s alleged controversial remarks linked to terrorist attacks.
“But what sort of friendship is this?” Ramesh posted, adding, “President Trump hosted Field Marshal Asim Munir to an unprecedented lunch in the White House on June 18, 2025. This was the Field Marshal whose inflammatory and communally poisonous remarks provided the backdrop to the Pahalgam terror attacks orchestrated by Pakistan on April 22, 2025.”
Ramesh further questioned Trump’s message to India, stating, “Now in Egypt yesterday, President Trump calls Asim Munir as ‘my favourite Field Marshal’ and gives special place to the PM of Pakistan. What kind of signal is President Trump sending to India, in spite of Mr. Modi’s desperate attempts to ingratiate himself with the US President?”
At the summit in Egypt, Trump not only praised Munir but also invited Sharif to speak mid-way through his own address. Sharif, in turn, praised Trump as a “man of peace” and recalled Pakistan’s nomination of Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan.
Interestingly, Trump also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “very good friend of mine” during the summit, noting Modi’s “fantastic job” as India’s leader. However, India has consistently refuted Trump’s claims of mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri previously stating that the de-escalation was a result of direct talks between the two countries’ armies, not external mediation.